Shane Lowry hopes to hit the ground running on the PGA Tour over the next few weeks as he looks to secure his spot in the upcoming signature events at Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational.
The highlight of what Lowry describes as an ‘average’ year was winning the Ryder Cup with Europe in Marco Simone last September and while he feels the best is yet to come from him, for now, he is playing catch up on the PGA Tour having failed to secure his spot in this year’s signature events.
So often a fixture in the DP World Tour’s Dubai swing, it’s focus by necessity for Lowry who needs to make the most of the early events on the PGA Tour.
“I think obviously it goes without saying the highlight of my year was the Ryder Cup and that week, but a lot to improve, I think, in 2024,” Lowry said.
“But I think I’ve been around long enough to know that professional golf, it ebbs and flows; you just have to keep doing what you feel is right.
“As long as you do that and things aren’t going too badly, you just have to believe that the best is yet to come.
“And I think that’s what we’re great at as professional golfers. We all believe that the best is yet to come and I’m hopeful that’s the case.”
The Offaly man missed out on the top-50 on the PGA Tour last season meaning he needs to play his way into the signature events or even hope for invites.
He can also make the field for the Pebble Beach event next month via the Swing5 – the top FedExCup points earners from the Sony Open in Hawaii, The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open – while he can qualify for the Genesis in Riviera via the top-5 in the FedEx Cup after the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
The world number 43 can still make it via the top-30 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
“Obviously, I didn’t finish the top 50 on the PGA Tour who get into the Signature events,” added Lowry, who begins the season at the American Express on Thursday.
“There’s other criteria – the top 30 in the world gets you in. And then there’s some invites and stuff. You can play your way in in the weeks leading up to it, which I would hope that I do anyway, but I’m hoping that the PGA Tour give me the odd invite anyway.
“I’d be hopeful that everything I’ve said and done over the last couple of years, that they might only be one or two invites anyway, to help me along the way.”
The 2019 Open champion was the heartbeat of the Team Europe dressing room at last September’s Ryder Cup in Rome and such passion could be transferred to the Olympics in Paris this year.
Golf’s recent foray into the Olympics has been a slow burner but Justin Rose has often spoken of his immense pride of winning an Olympic gold in 2016 while Rory McIlroy “never tried so hard in my life to finish third” at the Tokyo edition as Xander Schauffele took gold.
“I know how much Olympic medals mean in this country, and I think that would just be something else, like the Ryder Cup was this year. [Representing Ireland was] another thing on my list of my career achievements that I wanted to do and I think the Olympic medal, you know, obviously a gold medal will be amazing, but a medal in general would be great,” explained Lowry.
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