Shane Lowry admits he got a lot out of his game but felt almost powerless to stop a red hot Rory McIlroy as he finished second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
After a rocky front nine, Lowry did his level best to cling onto the coattails of McIlroy with five birdies on his back nine as he muscled his way into second place. Even though he felt he shot the best score he could have on the day, McIlroy was just too strong.
“I’m happy enough with my week. I think we play at this level, especially when you’re in the position I was in today, you play to win, you don’t play to finish second,” said Lowry whose final round of 68 was gave him a 19-under total, two shots shy of McIlroy.
“But the way he was playing today, I certainly wasn’t good enough to beat him. I felt like I got a lot out of my game today and I felt like that was probably as good a score as I could have shot. I didn’t hit the ball well, I was quite uncomfortable for the most part. I think it goes to show a lot of the character of me and my game that I came out finishing second today and I’m proud of myself how I battled.”
The Offaly man seems to be always looking over his shoulder trying to keep a few paces ahead of Father Time, but at 37 he still has plenty of years left at the very top level and being able to hold his own and go head to head with McIlroy on the back nine of a big event will help him realise that.
“To come out here and kind of then go like, kind of go head to head with Rory down the stretch, it’s pretty nice. It’s kind of, you know, the older I get, the doubts do creep in every year if you still kind of have us at this level, when you go out there and I showed even without my best stuff what I was made of today, I’m pretty proud of myself.”
McIlroy made just one bogey in his last 36 holes as he took control of the tournament and produced a performance that still shows that when he plays his best, he is still the best in the world.
While the chasing pack did nothing wrong, McIlroy was capable of hitting iron shots that they weren’t, particularly a 6-iron from a bunker on the par-5 6th and a 7-iron on the par-5 14th from 201 yards to set up a tournament clinching eagle.
“I said to Sepp, look at the shot he’s going for here. But he’s Rory McIlroy. He just played great today, that’s what he did. He took control of the tournament,” explained Lowry.
“When I was making birdies, he was throwing birdies back. Then he made eagle on 14 and that was pretty much it. I said to my caddie walking up 14 green, let’s make him win this, let’s not give it to him. I thought it would have been nice to hole out on 17 and then hit a good tee shot on 18, but it’s not to be.
“He’s just so in control. He drives the ball incredibly well, he always does. He was just in control of his ball today and he putted nicely. It all came together. I think like he said, if he cuts out his mistakes with his irons, he’s very hard to beat.”
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