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Lowry On The Right Track But Consistency And Accuracy Required To Reach The Next Level

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Shane Lowry showed he can compete with the best during 2012. TT08302.

A GOLDEN opportunity has opened up in front of Shane Lowry and with a number of small but significant improvements, he can move from the middle to the top tier on the European Tour.
The Clara professional golfer has made enormous strides since he turned professional after sensationally winning the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009.
Already he has earned more money than most people can dream about and his financial future should be secure but he is now moving into the next phase of life on tour: Where winning titles and achieving his best will become more important than the balance in his bank.
So far he has earned a whopping 1,415,146 euros in on course earnings and his off course earnings will have brought this closer to the 2 million euros mark.
He has displayed steady and consistent improvement since turning professional and his career is very much on an upward trajectory.
It may come with the caveat 'more to do' but we can't lose sight of the fact that Lowry is a young man and he has loads of time on his side. He is not even near his golfing peak yet and it is extraordinary to think about what he can achieve.
The statistics prove that he is making progress each season and moving in the right direction. In half a season in 2009, he earned 144,843 euros, in 2010, he amassed 501,728 euros and in 2011, he went closer to the magical 1 million euros mark, earning 764,778 euros.
His playing statistics make interesting reading - In 2009, he had a stroke average of 71.82 and finished in 70.26 place on average, in 2010, this improved to 71.73 for stroke average and 55.42 for average position, in 2011 he slipped back a small bit, having a stroke average of 71.29 but an average finishing position of 64.40. More significantly, he got among the top sixty golfers on the European Tour for the first time, competing in the season ending Dubai World Championship, where he performed sensationally to finish eight and earn 143,932 euros.
Paradoxically, Lowry competed in less tournaments in 2011 (25 compared to 31 in his first full season in 2010) but earned more money and this suggests that he is managing his schedule better: Less is clearly better and a couple of huge pay days ensured that his earning rocketed up.
Particularly encouraging was Lowry's performance in a couple of tournaments that included Europe's star names. He finished fourth in the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth, earning 191,100 euros (His biggest prize on tour to date) and he showed the full array of his skills when finishing eight in Dubai in December.
Lowry's performances last year were particularly note worthy as he missed the early months of the season after breaking his wrist in a Christmas fall while he missed the cut in his first three tournaments after returning in March.
After that, he built up increasing momentum, finishing 11th in the Spanish Open, fifth in the Iberdrola Open and fourth in Wentworth over three magnificent consecutive weeks in May.
Other significant finishes over the season included 14th at the Scottish Open, fourth in the Andalucia Masters, earning 150,000 euros and 13th in the Singapore Open when he earned 62,427 euros.
Those huge pay days made a massive contribution to his season earnings and compensated for the tournaments that he didn't earn in - He missed the cut in eleven of the twenty five tournaments he competed in which is way too high of a percentage (Not far off half) but his ability to produce on some very big occasions made up for this.
His performances in Wentworth and Dubai were particularly stand out ones as both included Europe's top players including number one, Luke Donald, number two, Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer.
Those two events, more so than any other, demonstrated the vast potential that Lowry possesses. He is very much at home in the upper echelons of the European Tour but at the moment, he is separated from the Donald's, McIlroy's and Westwood's of this world by one very important ingredient: Consistency.
This is backed up by the statistics - Last season, he missed his first three cuts, made the next five in his most sustained run of form, culminating in his heroics at Wentworth, missed the cut in the Wales Open, finished 88th in the US Open, missed his next two cuts, did well in the Scottish Open, again missed the weekend action in his next two tournaments, finished 16th in the Czech Open, was short of the mark in his next two, earned in the next three tournaments, missed out in the Castello Masters and finished the season on an incredible high as he finished fourth, 13th and eight respectively in Andalucia, Singapore and Dubai.
Despite being inconsistent, he was comfortably inside the top sixty in Europe, in 41st place - He just missed out on Dubai in 2010 when finishing 62nd on the order of merit.
He is gaining tremendous experience at a young age and has competed in three majors to date: His best finish was 37th at the 2010 British Open, while he was 119th in the 2010 US PGA and 88th in the 2011 US Open. The only major he has not appeared in is the US Masters and everyone is looking forward to the day he competes on the stunning Augusta course - The world top fifty plus invites compete there so it probably won't be this year, unless he wins something significant early in the season (The Masters starts on April 5).
At 24 years of age, Lowry is entitled to live the life of a young man but a rare opportunity has opened up in front of him and no doubt, he will want to push it on and set himself new targets.
He needs to set himself small achievable targets - Now ranked 130th in the world, getting back into the top 100 should be an aim for this season while he should be aiming to get into the top twenty on the European Tour over the next couple of seasons. Down the road, Ryder Cup qualification will have to be a serious goal.
At the moment, however, Lowry can reflect with immense satisfaction on his career to date. He has made phenomenal strides forward and he needs to bask in the glow of what he has achieved: Enjoy the moment and celebrate the good fortune and talent he has developed.
He is a brilliant golfer, easily the best to have come out of Offaly and probably the fifth best golfer in Ireland at the moment: Behind McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington.
That is some going, in fact it takes your breath away when classed in those terms and Lowry deserves to take a bow.
He would be wasting his talent, however, if he didn't push it on to the next level over the next few years.
He has made a sluggish start to the 2012 season, missing his first two cuts and finishing 66th in the Dubai Desert Classic but that won't be causing him much concern as he has the game and ability to turn things around in spectacular fashion.
It is, however, worth comparing his statistics to a couple of Europe's top players to see where he can improve his game.
Lowry and Rory McIlroy ploughed many of the same courses as amateurs and McIlroy has since became golf's most exciting talent since the arrival of one Tiger Woods.
Maybe it is unfair to compare Lowry to McIlroy but he competed very well against the Northerner at amateur level and he is the bench mark he has to aim at - The Mr Consistency of world golf at the moment is Luke Donald and we include his statistics in brackets for comparison purposes.
In 2011, Lowry's stroke average was 71.29, compared to 69.16 for McIlroy (69.12).
It may not seem much but two strokes is a lot at the highest level.
Lowry was actually on top in driving accuracy - 67.94% compared to McIlroy's 63.12% (75.655): McIlroy is a massive hitter which often puts him in trouble off the tee, averaging over 300 yards compared to Lowry's 289.13 yards.
Incidentally, Lowry appears to have lost some distance to date as his driving accuracy in his three tournaments to date has been 280.29 yards, down over nine yards from last season.
Despite being in trouble more often off the tee, McIlroy still managed to hit 73.49% of greens in regulation, compared to 68.82% for Lowry (77.49%) - This statistic has plummeted to a worrying 58.71% so far this season. Accuracy with his second shot is one part of Lowry's game that he will have to work at and he will be trying to eliminate the need to scramble for par and to make more birdies.
At the moment, Lowry is motoring very well indeed and he has made incredible achievements for such a young man. He has a remarkable talent, his is ambitious and no doubt, he will want to push himself on and achieve more. He deserves time and patience as he bids to do this and we look forward with great anticipation to the evidence unfolding over the coming seasons.

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