Shane Lowry’s short-game wizardry and big-stage grit make him a Masters contender – could 2025 finally see an Irishman don the Green Jacket?
Shane Lowry and Augusta National seem a potential match made in heaven. But, like any relationship, it’s all about timing – and ahead of his tenth foray around the hallowed turf, he hopes the stars align.
Lowry arrives with a solid Masters record: five successive cuts made, four successive top-25 finishes, including a share of third place in 2022, though last year’s 43rd was a little disappointing.
Augusta’s reputation as a second-shot course suits Lowry, a wedge wizard, and one of the PGA Tour’s best approach players.
He ranked 12th in Strokes-Gained-Approach last season and sits 15th this year. His 2025 form has been strong with near misses at Pebble Beach and Bay Hill, plus a jump in putting to 52nd in Stroke-Gained from 112th last year.
Since the 2023 Irish Open, he’s missed just three cuts, with nine top-10s and eleven top-13 finishes in his last thirteen starts. With no solo win since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship, could Augusta be his moment to bloom as Ireland’s first Masters champion?
Ever since Pádraig Harrington’s 2007 Carnoustie breakthrough, Irish golf has enjoyed nine more majors—five Opens, three PGAs, two US Opens—but Augusta remains elusive.
Harrington’s four top-10s include a 2007 near-miss, entering the final round two back but fading to seventh as Zach Johnson won. Darren Clarke led after day one in 2003 but finished 13th, with his best an eighth in 1998. Graeme McDowell’s struggled, missing seven of 10 cuts. And Rory McIlroy, with four majors, has faltered most famously, leaving the Masters as Irish golf’s Holy Grail.
Lowry stands apart. The 2019 Open champ is one of 33 players in Masters history with a hole-in-one, acing the 16th with an 8-iron in 2016 – 12 years after Harrington’s feat there with a 6-iron.
Like McIlroy, he has the tools: approach play, short-game finesse, and big-stage mettle.
“It’s probably the most special week of the year,” Lowry says. “Disappointed not to give it a decent run last year, but hopefully I have a few more years left.
“Obviously, you’re at the same course every time, which is great. I’m getting to a stage now in my career where I’m going back to major venues that I already know, so I feel like I’m getting old.
“Masters week, you put a lot of pressure on yourself; it means a lot.”
His wins – Bridgestone Invitational, Portugal Masters, Abu Dhabi Championship, and the Open – plus a career-high world ranking of 14th in March, mark him as a form player heading to Magnolia Lane. Yet he downplays his contender status: “Ah look, it’s hard to look past the top players in the world. You know, am I in the next category? Possibly. But I’m certainly not here to make up the numbers.
I’m here to compete, and that’s what I do every week – it’s what I live for and it’s the reason I get out of bed in the morning. So yeah, I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Dubbed the man with magic hands, Lowry’s pitch-and-chip mastery fits Augusta. His early Masters record was shaky—three missed cuts in his first four tries, with a 39th in 2016 breaking the skid. Since then, he’s matured, gaining the experience to handle Augusta’s mental test.
“A few years ago, even just coming here could be intimidating,” he reflects. “It is different to every tournament you play, so it took me a few years.
“I feel like I’ve got the grasp of it now. Will I play well this year? Who knows. But I certainly feel like my game is in decent shape and I can go out there and play well.”
The 2022 Masters, where he and McIlroy finished third and second behind Scottie Scheffler’s first Green Jacket, was Irish golf’s Augusta peak, spotlighting Lowry’s potential and he aims to contend into Sunday’s back nine this year.
“Nobody remembers who finished third at the Masters,” he notes. “In 20 years’ time, finishing third doesn’t get you back in those gates. First does, though, so that’s the main goal.
“I’m playing nicely and I’m very happy with where my game is.
“But there’s no God-given right to compete and play well here. You just have to do everything you think is right and go out there and give it everything you have from Thursday to Sunday and hope it’s good enough.”
Augusta National is a course of fine margins, however, and Lowry is hoping that Lady Luck shines favourably on him this year.
“You may be a yard away from making a birdie and you could make double,” he explains. “It’s such fine margins; you need a bit of fortune on a week like this to play well.
“It’s hard to explain to anybody sitting at home because you don’t see the undulations, and you don’t see the change of the slopes on the greens.”
Seventeen Irish players have teed it up at the Masters, with at least one every year since 1998. An Irish win wouldn’t be a fluke—it’s overdue. Will Lowry’s number come up?
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