Mark McGowan at Royal Portrush
After having a front-row seat to world number one, Scottie Scheffler’s impressive display at Royal Portrush, Shane Lowry feels that the three-time major winner – and who’s on the cusp of clinching number four this afternoon – doesn’t actually get the credit he deserves for the manner in which he’s performing.
Scheffler will be public enemy number one with the huge galleries very much behind world number two Rory McIlroy, but as Lowry highlights, Scheffler has been performing under pressure for a long time now.
“I played with him the first two days, and honestly I thought he was going to birdie every hole,” Lowry said. “It was incredible to watch. I said to Bones [Jim McKay, former caddie and current on-course analyst for NBC] actually, he was with our group, we talked about it, I saw his comments yesterday, it is incredible to watch.
“I wouldn’t say he’s unbeatable because he’s been beaten a few times, but when he’s like that, when he starts getting on that roll, he’s a hard person to beat. Even like today, you look at the scoreboard and sort of think — I think, if Rory can get off to a really hot start and get the crowd behind him, it might make it difficult for Scottie, but people make it difficult for him all the time, and he comes out the other side of it. So who knows?”
In his post-third-round comments, Rory McIlroy described Scheffler as “inevitable”, given the way he was playing, and though Lowry think’s Rory might lament his use of such a term to describe his primary competitor, he doesn’t argue with the sentiment.
“I saw that interview, and I thought he probably regrets saying that word,” Lowry laughed. “I think — yeah, it’s — honestly I think, if we — if Scottie’s feet stayed stable and his swing looked like Adam Scott’s, we’d be talking about him in the same words as Tiger Woods. I just think because it doesn’t look so perfect, we don’t talk about him like that. I think he’s just incredible to watch, and his bad shots are really good. That’s when you know he’s really good.”
Lowry’s eventful week came to a close with a five-under 66, and though it was always going to be a big ask to reproduce the magic of 2019, he’s proud of the way he battled through illness and misfortune and gave it his all.
“Obviously I would have liked to do better this week, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “But it is what it is. I tried my best. I gave it everything I could, and it wasn’t to be.”
Leave a comment