Due diligence is an important part of ensuring the numbers stack up. For Shane Lowry – the player on tour with the best active streak of cuts made in the Majors, at 12 heading into this week’s US Open – the work done during practice rounds is a key component of bringing such consistency to his game.
It was visible again at Brookline these past few days. His coach Neil Manchip would select potential hole locations and leave a rubber cut-out on the putting surface, while his caddie Bo Martin went about the cartographical business of scrutinising the slopes on the greens.
Lowry, for his part, has bought into it all, especially in the weeks like these where the hardest questions are asked of players. He is playing well, as the results − even without a win – have confirmed: Lowry has moved to 24th in the official world golf rankings, but his form on the alternative Data Golf rankings – which use a different model applying greater weight to more recent events – he is ranked eighth.
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“I take nothing for granted when I get to a week like this, I come out and I work hard and I try and prepare as best I can,” said Lowry. “This golf course is going to be quite difficult this week and I take nothing for granted and go out there and give it everything I have and hopefully it is good enough.”
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And his putting, too, has improved in working with Stephen Sweeney. “I have worked hard on my putting over the last year, so I am happy with that. There is no doubt a lot of the reason for my consistency is how I have been putting.
“It is not necessarily the birdie putts, it is when you clean up the par putts that is nice, to be comfortable doing that. These greens are tricky, a lot of slope on them, and I’m just trying to get used to them, also the pace of them, and hopefully I can putt nicely. That’s been the theme of my career: when I hole a few putts, I can do some damage!”
Numbers. Statistics. Fuel for the golfing soul and mind. “I am putting better, and even my tee-to-green stats are very good.”
The ultimate numbers game comes in accumulating the lowest total through four rounds however. And Lowry, who’d love to get another win on his CV, is playing a game of patience in plotting his way to that point. “I think I can accept the bad shots better these days. I am just more mature, and patience is huge.”
Of what he calls the “funky” challenge of Brookline, with a number of blind tee-shots and approach shots adding to the examination, Lowry said: “It is going to be mental, physical, everything this week … and that’s why I’m excited.”
Some might construe that Lowry has been given a short straw in being put into a group with Phil Mickelson, and also with Louis Oosthuizen. Lowry himself doesn’t view it that way.
As he explained: “Regardless of whether Phil had joined LIV the past few weeks or not, playing with him here this week in Boston is going to be pretty wild because the crowds are going to be loud … I could make an excuse and say it is going to be a distraction but it is not, I am a big boy, I am well able to look after myself.
“I go out there in one of the marquee groups this week and there is nothing I can do about who I am playing with, I just need to look after myself. The last time I played with Phil in the first two rounds of a Major was Royal Portrush in 2019, so hopefully that has some sort of an omen about it.”
Lowry hasn’t won since lifting the Claret Jug at Portrush. But his form increasingly is trending towards another win.
“Obviously I want to win and I do feel like the last couple of weeks have been a little bit frustrating. I still just need to keep telling myself I am playing good golf and putting myself there most weeks. Patience is everything in this game and I just need to be patient the next few months. And if I am, I am hoping that the golf gods will pay me back, hopefully in a big way in a week like this or in St Andrews in a few weeks.”
