Lowry on distance debate: "I don’t buy into it"

Shane Lowry in action in Abu Dhabi last year

Shane Lowry has made no secret of his determination to make the Ryder Cup team this year but he insists he’s not obsessed by Whistling Straits just supremely confident he will be on that plane.

The popular Offaly man (33) has spoken about the Ryder Cup hundreds of times since Pádraig Harrington was appointed as European captain more than two years ago. But he’s also adamant in what is a classic chicken and egg situation that it’s not him who is consumed by thoughts of Wisconsin in September but the media that’s lost the run of itself when it comes to his long-overdue debut.

“No,” he said in response to a question asking if he had the Ryder Cup on the brain. “It’s just every time I talk to you guys, you ask me about it. It’s hard not to look like I am thinking about it. I don’t know what I am supposed to do. I am not going to sit here and say I don’t want to talk about it or I am not talking about it. If I am asked about it, I am going to talk about it.

“Obviously it is a big goal of mine and if I am at home on my couch in September watching it on TV, it won’t be a good place for me. But I am very comfortable with my own ability and comfortable with my own mental thoughts and where I am at in the game now.

“I am 34 this year and I feel I have matured quite well. I am confident. Yeah, I am confident I will make the team. It is just up to me to go out there and play good golf.”

Competition for nine automatic places on Harrington’s team will be red-hot and with Lowry missing the cut on his 2021 debut in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and following that with an equally mixed performance in last week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic, where he tied for 27th, he would welcome a good week in this week’s Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisors, where a stellar field has been assembled at considerable expense to sponsors.

That said, he’s not panicking just yet, knowing he just has to find his A-game two or three times all season to achieve his goals.

“I didn’t have the best two weeks the last fortnight but I think I have been around long enough to realise that a full season doesn’t rest on the first two weeks of the year,” Lowry said after the Pro-Am where the efforts of the mid-handicappers in his group confirmed his belief that the R&A and USGA are barking up the wrong tee in their battle against distance. It’s more distance that amateurs need, he believes, not less.

As for his own game, he just needs his putter to warm up in what will be his final event in the Middle East before he heads for his US base to play five events in a row before the Masters.

“It was one of those where it wasn’t the best two weeks but I feel that my game is okay,” he said. “When I do look over my game, I am probably not holing as many putts as I would like but other than that I feel like my whole game is pretty good."

He might be The Open champion but the R&A is unlikely to call the Offaly man asking him to be a spokesman in their war on excessive hitting distance.

Lowry simply doesn’t buy it or understand what the game’s governing bodies are trying to do, seemingly interpreting efforts to roll back the ball or clubs as an attack on the top tour players.

The R&A and USGA this week proposed limiting the length of clubs to 46 inches, likely putting paid to any hopes Bryson DeChambeau might have had — he later said he had no plans — of using a 48-inch driver in play at the Masters.

“No, I’ve never considered using a long driver and I don’t think if you were to go out on the range down here or on the ranges over the last couples of years, how many people would have used a driver over 46-inches,” Lowry said. “I don’t think there is many but the fact that they are doing that I think doesn’t make much difference whatsoever.

“The only reason they are doing it is because one person [DeChambeau] keeps talking about it all the time, and about how far he is hitting it. 

“I liked Webb Simpson’s comments and I feel like the game is great where it is.  We saw it at Augusta. Bryson didn’t rock-up and win the Masters like everyone thought he was going to do.  Yes, he won the US Open but when you’re one of the best players in the world, of course he can win tournaments.

“I had a good chat with Ian Poulter over dinner last night and we talked about it and I think if they do roll back the equipment and the golf ball, it will affect the short hitters a lot more than the long hitters. The long hitters will have more of an advantage.  If they roll back the ball,  Bryson and all these guys are still going to hit it 300-yards whereas the rest of us will be hitting it 260 or 270-yards and we are all still going to be playing 500-yard par-4s.

“They need to be quite careful with what they are doing.  I think they need to look at setting up golf courses correctly. If they set up golf courses correctly … My take on the US Open, and why Bryson won ….. okay he won because he played the best and putted the best. But the fairways were actually too narrow, so it meant even a good driver of the ball could miss the fairways.  So, everybody was missing more fairways, so that actually played into the long-hitters hands.

“Bryson was standing-up there and slashing it.   I think I finished 10th in ‘driving accuracy’ that week and I missed 50% of the fairways which is actually 28 fairways around a US Open venue. I think I had to lay-up about 20 times out of 28 drives that missed the fairway. 

“I just think they need to be careful they way set-up courses and it is not as easy as just doing it overnight but I do think the game is in great shape the way it is.

“It’s great to watch the best players in the world when they’re on doing their thing but the rest of us still have a chance week in and week out when we show up and play our best golf.”

Like Rory McIlroy, Lowry has issues with this week’s statement by the USGA’s Mike Davis, who said:

“The research conducted through Distance Insights clearly shows that hitting distances have consistently increased through time and, if left unchecked, could threaten the long-term future of our game at every level and every golf course on which it is played. This is the first forward step in a journey and a responsibility the USGA and The R&A share with the worldwide golf community, to ensure that golf continues to thrive for the next hundred years and beyond.”

“I don’t know what he means ‘at every level’ because I think at amateur level at 18 handicap level people need the ball to go further and need the equipment to go further.  I have just played the pro-am and 14 handicappers, some of the holes are still quite long for them. I don’t where he is coming from there.

“The R&A and USGA, they don’t want the game to get away from them where guys are hitting it 400 yards. I personally can’t see that happening. But obviously it’s the manufacturers and the boys involved.”

Warming to his topic, Lowry added: “Right. My thing is that if Bryson hadn’t done what he’s done in the last six months, we wouldn’t even be talking about it right now. Genuinely. Has Bryson won every tournament he’s played in? No.”

But when it was pointed out that the distance debate has been going on since well before DeChambeau was ever heard of even as an amateur, Lowry said: “They have but we are going to play Torrey Pines this year and there are par fours of 530 yards. We need the ball to go 350 yards off the tee. 

“I think if they set up golf courses properly, there is no issue whatsoever. If you look at the two tournaments Bryson won, and I only had this conversation with Tim Barter 20 minutes ago, he was top five in putting for both of them. That’s your answer. You still need to be an all-around great player to win golf tournaments and big golf tournaments. That’s what it comes down to for me. You still have to be a great player. I don’t car. If Bryson DeChambeau hit it 300 yards off the tee, or 350 yards, he’s still one of the best players in the world.”

As for concern that the Old Course at St Andrews could be rendered obsolete in a few years should distance gains in the 400-yard drive era continue, he said:  “Yeah, you can talk through that but then you have to avoid the bunkers. And if it’s windy and it rains. That’s just what the Open brings.

“I am of the opinion that if someone is going to shoot 10 under, they will shoot 10 under. If you get a nice day at St Andrews, you will shoot 10 under. Did Johnny Miller not shoot 63 in Oakmont whenever it was? Did these guys back in the day not shoot 10-under? It’s not just us. Throughout the years, lads have always shot great scores. It is not just us. I just don’t know. I don’t buy into it. I don’t really read much about it and I don’t really get into it. I think the game is fine the way it is. I think the best players are the best players in the world because they are all-round better golfers, not just long hitters. “

Lowry is looking for a good week in Saudi Arabia before he heads back to his US base in Florida until after the US Open.

“I have never been one to believe I am peaking for any event,” he said when asked his plans up to the Masters. “I work at it day in day out and try to come to every event I play. First thing on my mind is this week here, then I have two weeks off when I come back to America and then I am going to play five in a row which will give me a week off before the Masters. 

“So I would like to think I have a lot of golf under my belt going into the Masters and hopefully I will have some decent form and get to Augusta with some good form. When you look at the tournaments we have before then, got WGCs, Bay Hills, Players, Honda Classic, World Matchplay, so it is kind of like five events that are some of the biggest events on the planet. 

“I have emphasis on doing well every week and when it comes around to the Masters I will probably only start thinking about it the week before to be honest. “

As for the Saudi International, where he was tied 13th last year, he said: ”I like playing golf in the desert. It gets quite windy where in the afternoon, which should suit me when it comes to the later tee times when it comes to the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.

“The course is in unbelievable condition. It is definitely the best-conditioned course out of the three we’ve played the last three weeks. 

“I’m happy to be here and I had a decent week here last year. I feel like my game is in decent shape but if I don’t hole those putts I need to be holing, I won’t do any good. But if I do, I probably will.”