'Shane Lowry is the DNA of the golfer I wish I was', says Paul McGinley
Shane Lowry’s rollercoaster form rather than steady-Eddie consistency is the secret to real success on tour, believes Paul McGinley, who regrets not having the same golfing DNA as his fellow Irishman.
Lowry, who is partnering Padraig Harrington at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA Tour starting on Thursday evening, won this year’s Abu Dubai HSBC Championship in January, qualified for the Masters and then missed the cut at Augusta National, only to move on to Hilton Head Island the following week and claim a tie for third at the RBC Heritage last Sunday and leap from 50th to 43rd in the Official Golf World Rankings.
“Shane is the DNA of the golfer I wish I was,” McGinley said of Lowry, who will tee it up at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, beginning at Lahinch on July 4.
“Professional golf is not about being a steady Eddie. And I made a lot of cuts and had a lot of 20ths and a lot of 15ths, and I had a lot of consistency. I didn't miss a lot of cuts. When I got hot, my confidence level got to eight out of 10.
“When Shane gets confident, or Darren Clarke got confident, it was 9.99. They were off the scale with confidence. So as a result, when they were hot, they were really hot.
“And he rode that momentum of feeling good about the game, feeling good about themselves, feeling good about their putting and that generally turned itself into a win or a second-place finish. And that's huge cheques and huge world ranking points and huge order of merit points and huge Ryder Cup points.
“Those are the things that determine your success you have from year to year. In terms of the world rankings, you want to be a guy who goes first, second, 10 missed cuts in a row, third, first and then five missed cuts. That's the kind of guy you want to be. That's the kind of guy who rises through the rankings more so than a steady Eddie that finishes 15th out of a field of 156 players.”
