Shane Lowry doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration in his bid to end a four-year winless run and he hopes the best years of his career are still to come.
The 38-year-old hopes his close friendship with Rory McIlroy will lead to him picking up some winning from the grand slam champion as he searches for his first individual title since 2022.
Lowry has gone toe to toe with McIlroy at the business end of tournaments before, recently finishing second to him at Pebble Beach last year but he did beat him for his last victory at Wentworth’s BMW PGA Championship.
“I have a desire to be better and win more and a lot comes with the people you hang around with,” said Lowry at the Dubai Invitational. “I look at Rory and see what he has achieved and obviously I know I am not stupid enough to think I am going to win a grand slam or anything but I look at him and he is a great person for me to reach towards.
“If I can get close to him in every tournament and play well coming in I can have a chance to win.”
The Offaly man faces an uphill task to add to his seven professional titles after a two-under 69 to open the Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek which leaves him four shots behind Matt Wallace and three behind McIlroy with some strong wind expected on day two.
Lowry was in flying form as he roared out of the traps with back to back birdies on the 10th and 11th. he then recovered from a bogey on 12 with a routine birdie on the par-5 13th.
After a run of pars Lowry got back on the horse with two birdies in three holes to move to within one of McIlroy who was leading at the time. But a missed birdie chance on the par-5 4th seemed to take the wind out of his sails and he stumbled to the house with bogeys on the 6th and 7th.
Despite a sour finish, Lowry was pleased with how he shook off some post Christmas rust.
“It was alright, first round of the year never sure what to expect. I had a bad finish but I played nice there’s obviously a score out there if you hit the ball well and hit fairways. If you start missing fairways it gets tricky and the ball gets away from you and a lot of putts over slopes and grain, it’s a nice test of golf.”
As for the expected strong winds coming for round two, Lowry is braced for an early season grind.
“It’s going to be hard tomorrow it’s going to be grind it out, hit fairways, control your ball into greens and make pars. You’re going to get opportunities to make birdies and you’re going to have to take them.”
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