Shane Lowry’s long-time coach Neil Manchip insists that his best golf is still to come after the Irishman’s recent return to form.
Having fallen outside the top-50 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in five years, Lowry responded with a fruitful Florida swing, racking up two top-five finishes and a top-20 at last week’s PLAYERS Championship to propel him back into the world’s top-35.
Manchip, who guided the now 36-year-old to his only major title so far at the 2019 Open Championship in Royal Portrush, is excited by the form Lowry has found ahead of the Masters and feels he could be about to enter a golden period in his career and potentially add to his six professional wins.
“I think the ambitions are always there,” Manchip said at the Golf Ireland media day in Carton House.
“The win in Portrush was huge and a career milestone and going on to win Wentworth (BMW PGA Championship) the year before last, on a favourite course of Shane’s, was a huge victory for him as well, especially the way he did it in the final round.
“But nothing specific around that, absolutely I do think the best is yet to come. I think you’re always learning as a person, as a golfer, managing your schedule, managing your game, everything else that’s going on in your life. So yeah, the best is yet to come.”
Lowry had his first top-10 in twelve months on the PGA Tour despite letting a 54-hole lead slip at the Cognizant Classic, he continued that momentum by carving out a second successive 54-hole co-lead at Bay Hill which was a surprise given his wretched record of four missed cuts and a T67 in his previous appearances.
“Bay Hill was kind of a big milestone for him, playing so well on a course he has struggled on in the past,” explained Manchip.
“He’s looked at the course a little differently and combined that with good form, and had a very strong result.
“Happy with his game and had a good stretch in the States and after this week he’ll have a couple of weeks break and practice before Augusta, and I guess like a lot of players it’s a build up towards that first major of the year.”
A golden period may not be exclusively for Lowry as Golf Ireland Chief Executive Mark Kennelly outline a potential “golden window” for golf on the island of Ireland with several major events coming to town over the next four years.
June will see both the men’s and women’s Amateur Championships dock in Ballyliffin and Portmarnock respectively before the best collegiate players in the world head to Lahinch for the Palmer Cup in July.
The Open will return to Portrush next year while the Walker Cup will come to Lahinch in 2026 before a mammoth four years is rounded off in Adare Manor at the Ryder Cup.
Kennelly feels it’s a huge opportunity to build a golfing legacy in Ireland.
“We see huge potential and golden opportunity over the next four years with the big global events what are coming to our island,” Kennelly said.
“So we’re at the moment developing plans around how we will harness the high profile those events will create for golf to create a really lasting legacy for our sport which is about opening golf to new communities, broadening the base, growing the number of women and girls who are playing, increasing our inclusion strategy.”
The Golf Ireland CEO added: “We’ve a number of specific initiatives about growing the game as well. We’re really looking at that five-year horizon.
“You don’t build a legacy in one month or one year or around one event, it’s really about harnessing these events as a collective to try to make sure we have a lasting impact.
“So by the end of that cycle, and there could be big golf events coming to the island in the future, that we will have put down firm foundations around growing the appeal of our game and making sure that people from all backgrounds, genders and abilities want to get involved in our sport.”
Leave a comment