For Irish golf fans, nothing will top Rory McIlroy’s Masters victory last year but scenes of the grand slam winner dressing Shane Lowry in a green jacket at Augusta National next Sunday night would be a very close second.
Golf Ireland High Performance Director and Lowry’s coach, Neil Manchip, believes the Offaly man has all the tools to create his own Augusta masterpiece ahead of his eleventh appearance at the opening major of the season.
“Yeah I do [believe he can win the Masters], absolutely yeah. His game is great, he has the approach play the putting the whole lot. Like every player in the field they will be hoping it comes together at the right time.
“Imagine holding Sam Maguire, the FA Cup or the World Cup, of course everybody does that. You would be lying if you said you didn’t think that way. It’s a really exciting week ahead, we are all looking forward to it and with Rory’s exploits last year and making that incredible achievement. You can’t put into words how impressive it is to do something like that. It will be tough to beat last year but we will give it our best shot.”
Lowry is one of golf’s most consistent players and has thirteen top-10s and twelve top-15 finishes since 2024, but he hasn’t been able to clinch that elusive victory with recent heartbreak in Dubai and Florida adding to his trophy drought which dates back to the 2022 BMW PGA Championship. But Manchip believes the bitter taste of defeat won’t stop Lowry from putting himself in that position again and will use it as hunger at the Masters.
“That’s the measure of a champion just to keep putting yourself in that position, anyone who is putting themselves in that position you are putting yourself in for failure but you keep learning as you go along,” says Manchip, a former Irish PGA champion.
“Golf is a really difficult game and tournament golf at that level is an incredibly difficult game. It’s never over until it’s over and you have to focus on every shot. It’s a really tough finish at PGA National as everybody knows and other players will go through similar situations, you never figure it out 100% it’s always about the next shot.”
Lowry has long been tipped as a Green Jacket contender. In his early career his magic hands around the greens looked tailor-made for Augusta National but it is his stellar tee to green play, particularly with the irons, that can make him a threat.
Despite a 3rd place finish in 2022 being his only top-10 at the Masters, the 39-year-old was 3rd in strokes gained approach on the PGA Tour last year, 12th in 2024 and is 27th so far this season – a key metric heading to Augusta.
The Masters is golf’s Cheltenham, everyone tries to build their game to be in perfect order for the tournament and the Lowry stable is a happy one at the moment with Manchip believing his man is experienced enough to handle the big occasion.
“Just trying to be as precise as you can with your approach play, trying to avoid any really difficult situations and disastrous shots and really just try and play your game and also play the way the course is asking you to play, depending on wind and pin locations. A lot of players aren’t experienced out there and other players have lots of experience there and adjust their games as they go along to play to their strengths. Maybe they will do something differently to years before so it is such a difficult challenge there are so many situations you can benefit from and some really difficult ones.
“He’s so experienced at this stage. He knows his own game, how to treat a week, when to rest, to practice and when to take time off and do other things with family or friends. Just to manage yourself that week and not get too stressed about anything because there is so much stress on the course, decision making and shot execution, you need to take it easy off the course and rest the head.”
Despite some crushing blows at the final hurdle in individual events, Lowry has been known as a man for the big occasion and someone who can produce special moments. Last week saw him notch his fourth PGA Tour hole in one adding to his trio at Augusta National, TPC Sawgrass and Pebble Beach. Not bad.
He is also a winner in Abu Dhabi, WGC at Firestone, the Irish Open as an amateur and the Open Championship. His Ryder Cup clinching putt at Bethpage Black last September was another iconic highlight in his career.
Yet a tour victory continues to elude him.
“It’s the highs and lows of the game,” adds Manchip. “The better that you get the more difficult it gets because your expectations and standards are higher, the lows are even lower so it never improves. You can have a great run of success with victories and tournament wins and then when you are in bad form it is very low as well.”
Lowry spoke last week in Houston about how he dwelled on his Cognizant Classic collapse for too long which resulted in back to back missed cuts at Bay Hill and The Players Championship but he was quietly confident about the state of his game after a top-30 last week on a course that doesn’t typically suit his eye.
“Good golf on a really long tough course, the guys at the top were hitting the ball a long way with very high ball speeds. Heading into any major championship they are all different leading into the Masters, not many will have a few weeks off. This year his plan was to play in Houston and had a nice week there,” says Manchip.
Arguably three of the most iconic moments in professional golf last year came from McIlroy at the Masters and Irish Open and Lowry at the Ryder Cup.
The post covid golfing boom has continued on these shores and with membership and junior participation growing, Golf Ireland are keen to pounce on the Rory and Shane effect and use it as a nucleus to develop the next generation.
“We really saw that membership growth last year and junior participation has been growing steadily over the last few years. There was a massive bounce with Rory’s Masters win and you saw the kids at the K Club for the Irish Open to watch him win in the playoff there so that does a huge amount to grow the game and more boys and girls playing. We have over 600 in our pathway this year. Once you create the wider base at the bottom the better, more playing the better and the more chance you have of falling in love with golf and playing in our championships and that’s our best way of producing more champions.”
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