Shane Lowry is a straight shooter and his words were ringing in my ears during the Sentry tournament on the PGA Tour.
Lowry often comes across as someone who combines affable with anger on the golf course but off the course he hits the nail on the head. Sure, he doesn’t open his heart to the world like Rory McIlroy but there is a bluntness to the Offaly man and more often than not you leave the press huddle, or conference room nodding your head in agreement with what he says.
Lowry, when eligible, has opted to skip the Sentry (formerly known at the Tournament of Champions) at Kapalua Plantation Course, Hawaii. You’d think there must be a very good reason to turn down a $20 million prize purse in a 59-player field where you are guaranteed just north of $300,000.
And he does. This tournament is a joke.
Oh look at me, first day back at work in the new year and I am already complaining.
Going to be a fun year.
Usually I would look forward to flicking on the Sentry in the first week of January at near midnight even if just for an hour. Not for the sensational weather and sandy beaches but just for that sense of normality. Live golf. Last week I had absolutely no interest I didn’t watch a shot. My disdain still comes from the LIV-PGA Tour civil war and that most fields are still depleted but my main reason is that I don’t see shooting 35-under-par on a course that has 100-yard wide fairways as an enjoyable spectacle.
“Me coming off the holidays in Ireland, flying 25 hours, ending to shoot 30-under? No, I don’t think so,” said Lowry on why he regularly skips the opening tournament of the calendar year in Hawaii.
27-under-par was the leading score after three rounds. And, if Lowry had played last week and shot 30-under he would have finished third, five shots behind winner Hideki Matsuyama.
This is the second time in four seasons that the winner has been in the 30s, with Matsuyama pipping Cam Smith’s record of -34 by one as he held off Collin Morikawa, with Jon Rahm and Chris Kirk shooting -27 and -29 in 2023 and 2024.
Can a golf tournament be taken seriously when a round of 67 is considered an average score, or worse, a poor score?
Max Greyserman began his third round seven shots off the pace. Knowing he needed a staggeringly low round to claw himself back into contention, the American obliged shooting a bogey free round of ten-under 63.
He began the final round eight shots back…
2025 is less than a week old and the first revelation of the year is that 67s are officially not good according to Max Homa who finished on a bang average nineteen-under-par for T26th.
The Sentry is like the Community Shield in England or the President’s Cup in Irish football. Nobody really gives a s**t. It’s nice to win but it’s just a curtain raiser to afford players the opportunity to shake off some winter rust before the more serious stuff begins.
This tournament is a poor advert for the PGA Tour and how it can be dubbed a “Signature Event” is honestly farcical. It’s essentially a hit and giggle on a wide open resort course. Surely not a great look for a tour whose product has been decimated by the presence of LIV Golf.
At the end of the day, Lowry is right. Save himself the hassle of the jet lag, and splashing out on the factor fifty.
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