Shane Lowry has become his own version of Mr Consistency this season and, at most, has four tournaments left to find a route into the winner’s circle.
“Hopefully I can come out on the right side of one of them,” said Lowry, who will continue his European swing of autumn events at this week’s Spanish Open at Club de Campo in Madrid where a certain Jon Rahm – coming in from LIV – will likely steal the show, on and off the course. (Rahm, by the way, withdrew from the season-ending LIV event in Dallas last weekend citing ‘flu-like’ symptoms).
For Lowry, his tied-12th finish at the BMW PGA in Wentworth followed on from a tied-12th finish in the Amgen Irish Open which only maintained a streak of consistent finishes. Indeed, in 24 tournament this year, Lowry has missed only two cuts while his only win came in the Zurich Classic where he partnered Rory McIlroy in the two-man team event on the PGA Tour.
“Another decent week, just more solid golf but no real fireworks,” came the words from Lowry.
Lowry’s work for the remaining events of the year on the DP World Tour will likely bring his total number for 2024 up to 28 events, with Spain (where he is the only Irish player in the field) followed by next week’s Dunhill Links in Scotland before a five-week break and a likely plan to return to finish his season off in the UAE, for the Abu Dhabi Championship and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Already, though, Lowry is looking forward to a winter’s break – and some family time – ahead of a Ryder Cup year in 2025 as he bids to earn a place on Luke Donald’s Europe team at Bethpage:
“I need some time to rest, recover, train (at the end of the season), to try and get in a decent frame of mind and decent shape going into a big year. My preseason prep is very important these years. I am not getting any younger and I need to be in as good as shape as possible,” said Lowry.
Before then, hopefully he can find the fireworks to light up the run-in.
Mark O’Meara bids farewell to competitive golf
Mark O’Meara – who once upon a time was the poster boy for Irish golf’s television marketing campaign to entice American tourists – has bid farewell to competitive play after a 44-year career that brought 34 professional wins, including two Majors.
The 67-year-old American, who has Tipperary roots, chose the Pure Insurance Championship on the Seniors Tour to bid farewell for obvious reasons. It was staged at Pebble Beach, where O’Meara won five Pebble Beach Pro-Am titles on the PGA.
O’Meara made 674 starts on the PGA Tour, 26 for them at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And, of his 284 starts on the Champions Tour, 17 were at the iconic clifftop venue.
“I’m thankful for every moment that I have walking, certainly around this place. It’s not like I’ll never come back to Pebble Beach again, but the fact that, to be able to end a competitive 44-year career at Pebble Beach, I couldn’t have picked a more special day and a more special place,” said O’Meara.
In Numbers: 1-6-2-1
Irish players are in action from Spain to Arkansas this week: Shane Lowry is the lone Irishman in the field at the Spanish Open on the DP World Tour in Madrid; a sextet of Irish players – Conor Purcell (who moved to 10th on the Challenge Tour rankings with a fifth-place finish in the Italian Challenge), Cormac Sharvin, Gary Hurley, Jonny Caldwell, Dermot McElroy and John Murphy – are competing in the Swiss Challenge at Folgensbourgh; Lauren Walsh and Sara Byrne are in the Lacoste French Open at Deauville on the Ladies European Tour; and Leona Maguire is the lone Irishwoman playing in the Walmart Championship in Arkansas on the LPGA Tour.
Word of Mouth
“There was no motivation or added motivation to not being picked on that team ... I’ve just got to do a better job of playing well on a more consistent basis, so I don’t have to worry about picks going forward” – Billy Horschel on not using his failure to make, or get a wild card, pick on to the USA Presidents Cup team for this week’s match against the International side in Montreal, Canada, as motivation at Wentworth.
On this day ... September 24th, 1995
Donald Arnold Weibring Jnr – or D.A. as he was known – was one of those American golfers who liked to travel, with wins in New Zealand and Japan among his global successes.
However, Weibring reserved his best for close to home. And his victory in the rain-shortened Quad City Classic at Oakwood Country Club – an event now known as the John Deere on the PGA Tour – gave the Illinois native a third win on home turf.
Weibring’s third career win in the tournament came courtesy of a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole where his main rival Jonathan Kaye bogeyed to flip the outcome.
Having started the third (and final round, as the event was reduced to 54 holes) with a four-stroke lead over Kaye and Jay Delsing, Weibring had to battle for his win but shot a closing 68 for a 54-hole total of 13-under-par 197, a shot clear of Kaye.
X-Twitter Twaddle
Shot 68 to finish T12. No bogeys on the weekend is always nice. A good week for my confidence. I was 2nd in SG tee to green. Waiting with patience for my run on the greens – Pádraig Harrington on a decent week’s work at the BMW PGA Championship for the 53-year-old Dubliner.
Billy Horschel, BMW PGA Championship winner. Things you love to see – official X account of West Ham United football club celebrating their fan’s win. Horschel put up his golf bag, autographed by the West Ham team, for auction.
Picking up right where she left off. A flawless final round 63 (-9) from Lydia Ko leads to a five-shot victory at the @QueensCityLPGA and back-to-back wins. She put on a clinic with her #ProV1x all week in Ohio, hitting 51 of 56 (91%) fairways and 58 of 71 greens (81%) in regulation, with just one bogey over 72 holes. Congrats, Lydia – Titleist, quite rightly, boasting of Ko’s achievement in a run that has also seen her win Olympic gold and the AIG Women’s Open.
Know the Rules
Q
The player’s second shot lands in the greenside bunker. The player hits the ball out of the bunker and it comes to rest just short of the green. The player removes the sand that landed both on the green and off the green using a towel as it was on their line of play. What is the ruling in stroke play?
A
The player gets two penalty strokes. Explanation: There is no penalty for removing sand that lies on the putting green (Rule 13.1c), but the player gets the general penalty for improving their line of play by removing sand in the general area (see Rule 8.1a (4)).
In the Bag
Billy Horschel BMW PGA Championship
Driver: Titleist GT3 (9°)
3-wood: Titleist TSi2 (15°)
Fairway: Titleist TSi2 (18°)
Longer Irons: Titleist T100 (3-5)
Irons: Titleist 620 MB (6-9)
Pitching Wedge: Vokey SM10 (46°)
Gap Wedge: Vokey SM10 (52°)
Sand Wedge: Vokey SM10 (56˚°)
Lob Wedge: Vokey SM10 (62°)
Putter: Ping Sigma 2 Tyne 4
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
