LOS ANGELES – Shane Lowry will not forget his victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans any time soon, nor the celebration that ensued with playing partner Rory McIlroy.
The Irishman teamed up with his friend and one of the best players in the world for the first time at the PGA Tour’s only two-man team event, and they promptly won the trophy on April 28.
There was some partying involved – do not ask about McIlroy’s rendition of Don’t Stop Believin’ – and Lowry revealed that it did not end that Sunday night.
Speaking to reporters in Charlotte ahead of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, he said he and his Northern Irish buddy got back together the Wednesday after the Zurich event.
“Yeah, we had a pretty good night Wednesday night,” Lowry said.
“We drank some nice stuff and had a good time and we celebrated our win, which you should do. I’ve been playing 16 years and I’ve won only seven times. You’ve got to celebrate the good times, too.”
Lowry has the New Orleans to thank for his entry into the Wells Fargo in the first place.
This week’s US$20 million (S$27 million) signature event is a closed-field tournament – he was not qualified for the signature events to begin 2024, though he played his way into the Arnold Palmer Invitational via the Aon Swing 5 pathway on the strength of good performances in other tournaments.
He capitalised by finishing third at the Arnold Palmer, then slipped a bit in the next few events, including a T43 at the Masters, before his New Orleans breakthrough.
“Cognizant and Bay Hill, I had two really good weeks, I was in the final group all week. Then you start to expect that from yourself week in, week out,” Lowry said.
“Masters didn’t go my way, Hilton Head (RBC Heritage) didn’t go my way, so I was getting a little bit down on myself. I knew a lot of aspects of my game were very good, but I just needed to tidy up some other things. When you’re not shooting the scores you feel like you should be shooting, it becomes difficult.
“Yeah, I’ve just been hard on myself, but New Orleans sorted that.”
The 37-year-old added it is nice to be in decent form at a time when important events start coming fast and furious.
Lowry can count the 2019 Open Championship and other premier European events among his seven career wins, but only twice has he won on US soil.
He may be in the right mode to change that, whether at Quail Hollow Club this week, the PGA Championship at Valhalla next week or the US Open at Pinehurst soon after that.
“Winning, we always say in golf, winning takes care of everything, and it does,” Lowry said. “It takes care of a lot of things. But that’s in the past now and you just kind of move on now and you’ve got big weeks coming up.” REUTERS
