Lowry relieved to get Donald’s support after Hero Cup disappointment
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry admits he was relieved to get moral support from Ryder Cup skipper Luke Donald after losing all four matches in last week’s Hero Cup defeat to Continental Europe.
The 2019 champion was the only one of the 20 players in action who failed to win even half a point.
But he insisted he gave his all, didn’t play as poorly as his results suggest and was pleased to receive Donald’s backing on Sunday night.
“I felt like I played all right last week, actually and I need to make sure that I don't lose too much confidence in the results and think about the results too much because I think if you look at my game and look at my scoring, I was actually okay,” Lowry said ahead of this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at Yas Links where he tied for 12th last year after a closing 77.
“So I need to take that into this week and come here -- I played well here last year. I was in the last group with Thomas (Pieters) on Sunday. Didn't perform as best I could, but, you know, put myself there.”
Donald knows world number 20 Lowry will likely be a key member of his team in Rome and the Offaly man was pleased to get words of encouragement from the skipper on Sunday.
“I felt like I was in the team room, the team environment, and I wanted to really win for my team,” he said. “It was a nice week to kick start the year. Obviously the result was not what I would have liked but yeah everything about the week was amazing and the Tour did a great job.
“And he said that to me on Sunday. To be honest I felt -- you know, there's certain points of the week where I felt like if I was a little bit better, I would have won a couple of matches; and if I win two matches out of the four instead of losing the four of them, we win the tournament or tie, anyway.
“I was disappointed with myself on Sunday evening. Not that I feel like I let the team down because you get into a team environment and you say, right, there's no ‘sorrys’ this week. It's everyone gives 100 percent and does the best they can and I feel like I did that.
“Yeah, if I had won a couple of matches last week, yeah, things obviously would have been different.
“It's nice to hear him say stuff like that. I feel like I learned a lot last week, actually. I really did, about myself, and about even playing some team golf. Hopefully I can use that if I'm there in September.”
Lowry felt the Hero Cup was a massive success as it help create greater team bonds.
“Last week, I thought as a GB&I team, we were all very close. It was actually great to be part of it and get to know the younger lads. That's what I really enjoyed about it.
“I watch a lot of golf when I'm at home in America, so I watch a lot of European Tour golf.
“To get it know the likes of Richard Mansell and Jordan Smith and these guys properly, and even Bob, to get to know these lads properly is pretty cool. It's nice. Bob, he plays a little bit in America so you get to see him but the other lads just play over here in Europe. To get to know them was pretty nice. Who knows, that could help.
“Yeah, we were very together as a team and Sunday night the team rooms were brought together and everyone mingled, and they did on Tuesday.
“There was a couple of times on Tuesday where they had a couple of ex-captains in there and giving talks and stuff when we're together.
“I have learned over the last sort of only two or three years how big The Ryder Cup is for this tour, and like I said earlier on, it is great to see everyone working towards it together, whether it be -- even you're in there, whether it be the guys looking after the clothes or the nutrition or everyone is working towards one goal.
“I think we'll all be happy if we're there on the 18th green in September with that little gold trophy.
“Hopefully we are standing there or we are in the team room Sunday night in Rome going, you know what, The Hero Cup had a big part to play in the success of this Ryder Cup Team.”
Lowry has joined the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council and having made clear his opposition to LIV Golf he hopes the Tours can maintain the huge prize fund increases announced this year and that when he retires he leaves the Tour in a better place than he found it.
“It was never something I thought I wanted to be involved in to be honest,” he said. “I always saw the lads on committees and stuff and was like, surely that just gets in the way.
“But I thought about it a lot and spoke to a lot of people, obviously, and I think where the game is at the minute, it would be nice to be involved and I feel like I could have a little bit of input into what's going on.
“Yeah, looking forward to being a part of that.”
As for the huge prize funds now in offer in the game, he said: “I think what's happened in the last year or so, we've got sidetracked in thinking that 20 million or 100 million is just normal and that's what we should be playing for and that's what we're worth; and that if we are playing for 2 or 3 million on this tour, that is not enough.
“I still think that this tour has grown, I think with the their alliance on the PGA TOUR, with the prize money, guaranteed to grow in prize money over the next 13 years every year, I think that's good for the Tour.
“I think it's sustainable, which is the big thing. I think having a sustainable product is something that you need to have, and I do think this tour has that.
“Like I said, we got sidetracked to thinking that $100 million is just normal. Everybody is throwing out these figures that are just astronomical. I think, you know, as a tour, could this tour be better? Yeah, obviously, we could all be better in anything that we do.
“But I do think that with a steady growth over the next number of years, I do think this tour will keep improving.
“Look, I'm going to Phoenix in a couple weeks to play for 20 million. It's great to be involved in it. I just hope it's sustainable and I just hope that in 30 years' time, those guys that are playing on the Tour are playing a better tour than I played. Because I think as a group of players, we need to be -- I said this, Jack and Arnold, and I'm talking about the PGA TOUR now, and even you talk about The European Tour, you go like Seve and José Maria and these guys passed the Tour down to Thomas and all those guys, and they have passed it on to us, and it's up to us to pass the Tour on to the next generation.
“You know, Tiger, let's say Jack and Arnold, they pass it down to, whatever you call, Freddie Couples and those guys and they passed it down to Tiger. Tiger is passing it down to us and it's up to us to pass it down to the next generation in a better place than we got it.
“So I think that's what's important for golf over the next while, and that's why I am happy to be involved in the PAC on the PGA TOUR and I am quite passionate about where golf is going and what's right for the game over the next while.”
