Shane Lowry is going back to basics for the final major of the season at this weekend’s PGA Championship at New Jersey’s Baltusrol Golf Club.
The former Irish Open champion has witnesses the extreme highs and inevitable lows of major golf in recent months with contrasting performances at the US Open in June and The Open earlier in July.
Lowry led the world class field by four shots going into the final round of the US Open at Oakmont, ending up in a tie for second place, before slumping to an opening round, seven-over 78 at Royal Troon, which resulted in the Offaly man missing The Open cut.
And now ahead of ‘Glory’s Last Shot’, the final major of the year, Lowry believes that he needs to “get back to playing golf” if he is to contend this week.
“The last few weeks haven’t gone to plan,” Lowry told RTE Sport. “So it’s just about getting back down to basics and trying to get out and shoot a few decent scores.
“If you look at my mind-frame going into the US Open, I need to get back there. I wasn’t expecting too much, and I was just happy to be out there playing a bit of golf.
“So I need to go out there on Thursday and try to play my way into the tournament gradually, and not do too much too early, and just get on with things.”
And Lowry admitted that he has probably been putting too much pressure on himself this season with one eye firmly on September’s Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.
“I was probably getting a bit too far ahead of myself just need to get my head down and shoot a few decent scores.
“I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, looking at the Ryder Cup. It was the first time all year that I looked at the Ryder Cup places, after the US Open. So I think that tells me something. I just need to get back down to being me and just trying to play a bit of golf.
“But listen, I do really want to make the Ryder Cup, I really want to make that team. I need a good week this week so I just need to go out relax and try not to force it.
“I just need to focus on what I do and do what I do best and that is playing golf and shooting the best scores I can.”
But Lowry knows that his predicament is one that every tour player faces throughout the season and he cited Open champion Henrik Stenson’s summer as reason not to dwell too much on his own recent performances.
“You look at Henrik Stenson. He played one round of the US Open and then pulled out and then shot the best score ever in a major at Troon.
“Golf is a funny game and you need to keep battling away and take the rough with the smooth.
“I have always used the thing where you can play your way out of the tournament on a Thursday but you can’t win it. So you need to play your way into the tournament, shoot a decent score and see what happens.”
So what of Lowry’s chances at the 7,400-yard par 70 at Baltusrol, where the fairways are wide and the rough is not too punitive?
“I do like it. A lot of drivers, big greens, I do think I could do alright around here. It’s your typical PGA course, there is nothing too tricky out there, it’s all there in front of you so you just have to play good golf.
“I played a couple of practise rounds here. I feel like I’m playing lovely. I’m driving the ball well and feel like the ball is going where I am aiming, which is always a help, and I feel good on the greens.”
