European TourBrian KeoghNiall Kearney, Michael Hoey, Padraig Harrington, Shane Lowry, Paul Dunne, British Masters, Graeme McDowellComment

Lowry off his greens, leaves Woburn hungry; another €39k for Paul Dunne

European TourBrian KeoghNiall Kearney, Michael Hoey, Padraig Harrington, Shane Lowry, Paul Dunne, British Masters, Graeme McDowellComment
Lowry off his greens, leaves Woburn hungry; another €39k for Paul Dunne

Matthew Fitzpatrick with the British Masters trophy. Picture: Getty Images

Shane Lowry refused to beat himself up over his putting despite the frustration of finishing just two shots behind wire-to-wire winner Matthew Fitzpatrick in the British Masters at Woburn.

The world No 21 closed with a four under 67 to finish in a three-way tie for second place with Soren Kjeldsen and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti on 13 under par.

And while his tally of 31 putts and 123 for the week left him in the pack on the greens, he was more than happy to contend for victory in just his second start in two months.

“It was another day of playing good golf and holing nothing,” said Lowry, who is likely to move into the world’s Top 20 today. “But there are a lot of positives to take from the week. I finished up there, not putting well - woeful putting is the only term I can use. 

"I holed pretty much nothing all week. I was hitting it inside ten feet a lot and not making them. It's just frustrating and it's hard. I lost confidence on the greens. But my golf is good enough to finish in the top three putting bad, so a lot of positives to take from it.”

Following his win in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitation and missed cut in the IUS PGA, Lowry took six weeks off and returned to finish 19th alongside Paul Dunne and Graeme McDowell in the Alfred Dunhill Links last week.

He was rusty for just two days in Scotland and with two weeks off now to prepare for the European Tour’s Final Series, he is growing in confidence all the time and looking forward to a lucrative end to the year and what should be a positive start to his Ryder Cup qualifying campaign.

“I played well at the weekend in St Andrews and came here fairly confident and honestly felt like I was going to contend, which I did,” Lowry added. “I felt like I could win and I am just shy of that but there are so many positives to take from the week, I can’t really be looking at my putting. 

“I think the greens were not great. They were tough to hole putts on. They were quite soft and it is not the course’s fault. It’s just the weather we have had. At the start of the week the rain was horrendous and unfortunately for them we had to play placing all week and the greens were poor.

“I have two weeks off now and hopefully I can kick on in Turkey and then two weeks in China and then Dubai and see how I can finish the rest of the year.”

Lowry will also have the Nedbank Golf Challenge to look forward to before the end of the season. But he’s not the only Irish player looking forward to the end of the year.

Paul Dunne closed with a three under 68 to share 25th on six under with Asian Tour bound Niall Kearney. And while he has Second Stage of Q-School on his schedule he’s already 173d in the Race to Dubai after just two starts, earning another €39,487 on Sunday to take his earnings for the past fortnight to €87,023.

Dunne’s next appearance comes in this week’s Portugal Masters in Vilamoura, where Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane will also be trying to secure their tour cards.

It’s the penultimate event of the season and while Dunne could secure his card with a top three finish, Lawrie must finish in the top seven at worst if he is to avoid a trip to Q-School while McGrane must finish second.

They won't be joined in Portugal by Graeme McDowell, however, as his run off sub-par rounds ended at 11 when he closed with a one over 72 in Woburn to tie for 30th on five under.

The Rathmore man got to within two shots of the lead when he birdied the fifth and sixth and eagle the par-five seventh. But his challenge ended when he bogeyed the 12th, 13th and 14th and he needed a closing birdie to undo some of the damage of a triple bogey six at the par-three 17th.

Michael Hoey (71) was 33rd on four under with Padraig Harrington 38th on three under after a 33-putt 70 featuring six birdies, three bogeys and his third double bogey of the week.

As for the winner, former US Amateur champion Fitzpatrick confirmed his status as British golf’s rising star by claiming his maiden European Tour title in style with a two shot victory.

The 21-year old had the luxury of being able to bogey the closing hole for his second consecutive round of 68 to finish on 15 under par.

According to the European Tour:

“The tournament was a huge success on its return to The Race to Dubai after a seven year absence, attracting crowds of nearly 60,000. It aimed to attract a new young audience to the game, so it was in many ways fitting that the youngest player in the field triumphed on home soil.
The former US Amateur Champion, who had previously had four top three finishes in 2015, bogeyed the third hole, but hit back with five birdies to claim the first prize of €671,549.
Tournament host Ian Poulter closed with a round of 72 to finish on four under par in a share of 33rd position, before helping to hand over the trophy to Fitzpatrick.

Matthew Fizpatrick – 68 (-15 total)

“It doesn't really get much better than this I guess. I don't really know what to say. It's just been an unbelievable day, and to top it off with a win, it's certainly made the year a lot better I guess.

“This year my goal was to keep my card, and to be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do that after the start of my year. But I managed to start playing well and making more cuts and just picking up cheques, and then the past two months, I guess, I really got going. I made a lot of money and was able to secure my card in The Race to Dubai. It's great.”

Ian Poulter – 72 (-4 total)

“To have the fans come out like they have come out the last four days has been incredible. We had 15,000 fans on Thursday and we have had similar from every day on in. The weather has been fantastic. They have come out in the thousands and that's what this place needs. British golf has been away for too long. Being able to bring this tournament back the way we have, has been a huge honour. I'm very proud to be associated with this golf course and the golf club itself.

“It's just a shame, obviously, I couldn't do it this week. My game, it's not quite there. I need to go home. I need to sit down and have a real good think about my golf game and see how we're going to get it back.”

Race to Dubai — Irish standings

  • 1 Rory McIlroy 9 €3,012,000
  • 4 Shane Lowry 14 €2,455,749
  • 63 Graeme McDowell 16 €449,016
  • 85 Michael Hoey 27 €326,675
  • 121 Padraig Harrington 11 €200,966
  • 123 Peter Lawrie 26 €187,296
  • 126 Kevin Phelan 19 €183,564
  • 138 Darren Clarke 18 €147,388
  • 168 Damien McGrane €29 89,505
  • 173 Paul Dunne 2 €87,023
  • 205 Niall Kearney 3 €45,887
  • 219 Simon Thornton 8 €31,074
  • 244 Gareth Maybin 8 €15,286
  • 270 Paul McGinley 7 €7,929
  • 294 Ruaidhri McGee 1 €2,880

British Masters supported by Sky Sports (Par 71)

269 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 64 69 68 68,

271 F Zanotti (Par) 68 68 66 69, S Kjeldsen (Den) 65 68 69 69, Shane Lowry (Irl) 66 69 69 67,

273 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 67 69 67, L Donald (Eng) 67 72 65 69, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 67 67 67 72, M Fraser (Aus) 66 73 67 67,

274 J Quesne (Fra) 70 67 69 68, A Wall (Eng) 68 71 66 69, C Wood (Eng) 69 69 69 67, O Fisher (Eng) 68 70 71 65,

275 T Fleetwood (Eng) 72 70 68 65, T Hatton (Eng) 71 68 69 67, R Bland (Eng) 67 67 70 71, R Karlsson (Swe) 65 70 70 70,

276 P Hanson (Swe) 70 70 68 68, D Fichardt (RSA) 73 68 66 69, K Broberg (Swe) 71 67 69 69, L Westwood (Eng) 69 70 67 70, A Levy (Fra) 67 71 69 69,

277 R Wattel (Fra) 66 71 67 73, L Slattery (Eng) 65 71 69 72, E Espana (Fra) 71 69 69 68,

278 A Johnston (Eng) 70 69 70 69, Paul Dunne (Irl) 71 69 70 68, Niall Kearney (Irl) 69 69 69 71, J Van Zyl (RSA) 68 69 70 71, D Brooks (Eng) 69 69 67 73,

279 D Howell (Eng) 71 66 71 71, G McDowell (Nir) 70 67 70 72, G Storm (Eng) 72 70 72 65,

280 Michael Hoey (Nir) 69 73 67 71, M Warren (Sco) 65 71 74 70, J Luiten (Ned) 68 69 71 72, E Pepperell (Eng) 72 68 69 71, I Poulter (Eng) 68 70 70 72,

281 R Karlberg (Swe) 68 70 70 73, J Edfors (Swe) 70 70 72 69, Y Yang (Kor) 71 68 70 72, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 66 72 73 70, G Bourdy (Fra) 71 69 75 66, F Molinari (Ita) 71 69 70 71, R Rock (Eng) 72 65 71 73, W Ormsby (Aus) 68 69 71 73,

282 A Sullivan (Eng) 67 69 72 74, S Hutsby (Eng) 69 68 76 69, D Horsey (Eng) 69 72 67 74, A Chesters (Eng) 69 69 73 71, D Willett (Eng) 69 72 70 71, C Lee (Sco) 72 70 69 71, B Hebert (Fra) 73 69 72 68, J Campillo (Esp) 71 71 71 69,

283 A Hansen (Den) 70 70 71 72, N Fasth (Swe) 70 70 73 70, M Jiménez (Esp) 72 70 73 68, S Hend (Aus) 71 71 72 69, J Singh (Ind) 67 73 71 72, R Finch (Eng) 69 73 75 66,

284 M Crespi (Ita) 69 72 68 75, A Cañizares (Esp) 69 72 75 68, G Mulroy (RSA) 70 72 72 70, J Donaldson (Wal) 69 72 71 72,

286 G Stal (Fra) 72 70 73 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 72 69 74 71, T Pieters (Bel) 72 70 76 68,

287 M Carlsson (Swe) 69 72 72 74, M Lundberg (Swe) 66 70 71 80,

288 G Havret (Fra) 70 71 69 78, P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 68 75 74, N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 70 71 78,

297 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 72 69 76 80.