Golf

Lowry to play BMW PGA, Spanish Open and Dunhill Links in stretch of tournaments that will test body and mind

Power says he made plenty of birdies in Irish Open but also too many mistakes

Shane Lowry during the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Shane Lowry during the Amgen Irish Open at Royal County Down in Newcastle, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Philip Reid
Sun Sept 15 2024 - 19:00

No rest for the wicked and all that. For Shane Lowry a redeye flight to London will see one week roll into another as he moves on to this week’s DP World Tour stop, a favoured haunt admittedly, for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

In the rear-view mirror will be this edition of the Amgen Irish Open, where Lowry played his way out of the tournament with a disappointing third round on Saturday, but managed he gain some upward momentum with a closing 68 for a total of one under par 283 that elevated him to a tied 12th place finish.

“I came here to win,” admitted Lowry. So with that objective it was another week where it didn’t happen. Still, it wasn’t all dejection. Lowry kick-started his Ryder Cup qualifying with a nice haul of points, and will play the BMW PGA, Spanish Open and the Dunhill Links in a stretch of tournaments that will test body and mind.

At least there would be a high level of preparatory work in the days ahead of the BMW as he knows the West Course at Wentworth like the back of his hand. “I’m looking forward to going. I will try and rest as much as I can the next few days, play the pro-am and then go play because I’m certainly not under-golfed at the minute,” he said.

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Lowry’s final round started with two birdies and he also had back to back birdies on the 11th and 12th before he hit a speed bump with a bogey on 13 which stalled his momentum and he parred his way home.

“I would have liked one or two birdies coming in. To play the last six holes in one over was pretty disappointing because the competitor in you is thinking if you can make a run and finish five or six under you’d never know. I bogeyed 13, that was disappointing.

“Look, I’m driving the ball as well as I ever have. I feel great on the greens. My iron play let me down a little bit this week but we are playing in crosswinds on a very difficult golf course so maybe I need to be a bit more lenient on that. I’m going somewhere that I love next week, and I feel like I will be able to compete there.”

Séamus Power, however, will miss the tour’s flagship event next week as he travels back to the United States as his medics assess what treatment is required for a skin cancer lesion on his arm. “I’m not sure yet (of the upcoming schedule). We are going to see after next week. I’ll rest up the next couple days and see what happens from there,” he said.

Power finished with a 71 for 285 in tied 26th: “I made plenty of birdies. I just had a few too many mistakes. That’s going to be links golf sometimes. I didn’t get a couple breaks here and there and made a couple of mistakes.”

Tom McKibbin slipped to a closing round of 73 for 286 (tied 30th), while 17-year-old amateur Seán Keeling had a 74 for 297 (in 67th).

“I learnt a lot and played a lot of good golf, but just over the weekend I made a lot of mistakes. Didn’t play my best. But making the cut was a good achievement, and I take a lot with me from the weekend, positives and learnings,” said Keeling, who returns to college at Texas Tech for his first season of collegiate golf.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times