Shane Lowry has explained why he was so pleased with his performance at the Texas Children’s Houston Open despite finishing outside the top 25 at Memorial Park.
It has been a turbulent few weeks for Lowry. He missed the cut at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
But of course, the most painful result for the Irishman in recent weeks came at the Cognizant Classic when he threw away the title over the final three holes at PGA National.
Shane Lowry assesses his performance at the Texas Children’s Houston Open
Lowry was unable to contend this week at the Houston Open. However, there were some positive signs heading into The Masters, including a hole in one early on in his final round.
Ultimately, the 2019 Open Championship winner spent much of Sunday moving in and out of the top 30.
Nevertheless, he suggested that he felt as though he exceeded expectations given the questions that Memorial Park poses.
“It’s pretty cool to make a one, isn’t it? I made one at Pebble last year and that’s my first one since. Yeah, it’s a good start to my round. Unfortunately I didn’t kick on from there. But yeah, it’s pretty cool. Always nice. I’m pretty happy,” he said.
“I played pretty good this week as well. I’m pretty happy with my week. I know I’m going to finish like mid 30s or something, but this golf course doesn’t suit my game at all. Kind of wanted to come and play here before Augusta and I think I got a lot of good out of it, so I’m happy.”
Lowry looks ahead to The Masters after a better week on the PGA Tour
It is easy to forget now that Lowry went into the latter stages of Saturday’s round at last year’s Masters with a genuine opportunity to win.
He went into the final day in a tie for sixth place, with Justin Rose one of the players who began the last round alongside him. Rose would go on to make a playoff with Rory McIlroy.
Unfortunately, an 81 on Sunday saw Lowry tumble down the leaderboard. And he suggested that he was keen to restore some confidence heading into the first major of the year this time around.
“Yeah, obviously wanted to play a tournament and I come off the back of two missed cuts. Obviously I got off to a great start this season and then at Bay Hill, Players I wasn’t very good. I think what happened at Cognizant, I might have let that dwell over me for a bit longer than I should have,” he said.
“It was nice to come out here and play four rounds and hit some really good shots. I felt like I drove the ball well this week. Yeah, like you just have to look at the top of the leaderboard, it’s all 185, 190 ball speed guys. This golf course, yeah, is for them. But I’m pretty happy.”
Considering that he only has one top 10 at Augusta National so far, Lowry’s record at The Masters is a very reasonable one.
So if things are starting to get back on track, it should come as no surprise if Lowry is able to put together an impressive week on his next start.