Lowry must take positives and belief in hunt for elusive win

Early last week Shane Lowry spoke about trying to carry a positive attitude throughout tournament weeks in his quest to end a winless drought of almost four years. At the crucial moment he lost that train of thought and it cost him dearly.

Standing in the heart of the 18th fairway on Sunday in the Dubai Invitational, Lowry pulled his 9-iron approach into the back left bunker and from there “disaster” struck as he put it in his own words. A poor bunker shot trundled across the green and into the creek and there went his hopes of a first victory since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.

Nacho Elvira profited and clinched the biggest win of his career which is a feel good story in itself even if it has been overshadowed by Lowry’s late collapse which was entirely a case of mentally buckling under pressure.

After finding the bunker long and left of the 18th green, Lowry’s reaction to his caddie Darren Reynolds was audible on the television. Fearful of coming up short and right in the water hazard, the Offaly man took an extra club but it was clear that at the crucial moment he was non committal.

There was no slice of poor fortune involved here, Lowry had swayed away from the process which had gotten him to this very situation.

The putter has often been accused of letting Lowry down or he can be guilty of trying too hard. But on Sunday, everything was going for him and the tournament looked to have turned in his favour when he drilled a 27-foot birdie putt into the hole on the 15th. A putt that in previous tournaments might have turned its nose up.

From there the 16th and 17th holes were stress free and he navigated a tricky 18th hole tee shot with ease. He looked poised. The hard work looked to have been done, he had beaten Rory McIlroy and David Puig and Elvira was clinging on.

But all credit must go to Elvira, who after a series of heroic par saves, dragged himself up from the depths of defeat and landed a knockout blow with a birdie on 17 to tie Lowry.

Neither would have known the situation but suddenly even hopes of a playoff for Lowry were dashed. It was a deja vu situation to last year’s Truist Championship where he three-putted the final green to allow Sepp Straka to steal in and nick the title.

That late heartbreak actually culminated in a poor run of form that saw him without a top-10 in his next twelve events so it is important that the 38-year-old doesn’t dwell on his devastating outcome as thoughts of building a run of form ahead of the Masters won’t be too far away.

“That was a disaster, wasn’t it?” a visibly shaken Lowry told reporters in Dubai. “What can you do? You have to learn from it and move on, lads. This game is … I don’t know. It’s the start of my 18th season on tour and I’ll never figure it out.

“I tried my best. I did everything I could and hit the wrong club in the last, and that cost me a playoff. I was just trying to hit a soft 9 [iron]. To be fair, if you hit a wedge at the flag and it comes out a little softer, it goes into the water [short of the green] and in hindsight I probably would have been better doing that because you can get it up and down from there.

“I hit a shocking shot. It’s not good enough.”

Lowry spoke of hoping that the best years of his career are ahead of him and he should be taking confidence that he was in contention so early in the year. Heading into the Dubai Desert Classic this week he will be expecting to contend alongside McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland.

The best years of Lowry’s career may well be coming. He reached a career-high tenth in the world last season and played a pivotal role in Europe’s back to back Ryder Cup victories over the USA – he is only lacking the victories on his CV that his talent and hard work deserves.

The elusive victory will come and with that the floodgates could open for some of golf’s biggest titles.

Pádraig Harrington’s words ring true here: “What separates the players who do win and the others is the desire to keep putting yourself on the line,” he said 18 years ago.