How Tiger Woods showed Shane Lowry the secret to conquering Augusta

Shane Lowry of Ireland walks on the second hole during practice round 1 at Augusta National Golf Club, Monday, April 3, 2023

Shane Lowry believes “the clock is ticking” when it comes to his chances of winning the Masters.

But as he makes his ninth appearance this year looking to improve on his career-best tie for third behind Scottie Scheffler in 2022, the Clara man (37) can look back in three days alongside Tiger Woods in 2020 and replay in his head the lesson he got on how to tackle Augusta National — and how to come back from adversity.

Lowry was the reigning Open champion when he rolled up for the Covid-19-delayed November Masters in 2020 and was drawn alongside the 2019 winner Woods, who had dramatically captured his fifth green jacket and 15th major the previous year.

Having only taken up the game at the end of the '90s, Lowry grew up watching Woods win the Masters and this was an opportunity to play with him for the first time.

“I know myself and my friend, we used to go to each other's houses every weekend, and any weekend Tiger was playing, we would sit and watch every shot that he hit,” Lowry said of the eve of the Masters in 2020. “Just watching Tiger around here, that chip-in on 16, I don't even know what year that was. Just stuff like that, I remember watching him.”

Lowry shot 74 in the first round as Woods shot 68 but managed a 69 to Woods 71 on day two, thrilling the great man with his own chip-in birdie at the 14th.

They didn’t play together in the third round when Woods shot 72 to find himself 11 shots behind eventual winner Dustin Johnson and Lowry shot 68 to join him again on Sunday, tied for 21st.

By the time they reached the 12th hole in the final round, they were miles off the pace. But what happened next will live long in the memory banks, not only of Lowry but the other member of the three-ball, Scheffler, who would go on to win the Masters two years later.

Woods proceeded to rack up a septuple bogey 10 at the 12th — spinning an eight iron back into the water before dropping in front of Rae’s Creek and spinning a 70-yard wedge back into the water again.

His fifth shot went over the green into the back right bunker and with an awkward stance, he bladed his sixth into the water again before taking a penalty drop in the sand and three more to get down for a 10. It was the only double-digit score of Woods’ career but while he was in danger of shooting his highest score at the Masters, he birdied the 13th, parred the 14th and then birdied the last four holes to shoot 76, which was one better than the career-high 77 he shot as a 19-year-old amateur in the third round in 1995.

"That's part of our sport," Woods said. "This sport is awfully lonely sometimes. You have to fight it. No one is going to bring you off the mound or call in a sub. You have to fight through it. That's what makes this game so unique and so difficult mentally. We've all been there, unfortunately. I've been there, and you just have to figure out the next shot, and I was able to do that coming home."

He tied for 38th in the end and it was a performance that left a mark on Lowry and Scheffler.

"It definitely struck me," Scheffler told Bob Harig for his fascinating new book, ‘Drive, The Lasting Legacy of Tiger Woods’. "That was my first time really spending time with Tiger. I had never played with him before. He struggled the first twelve holes. He didn't have his best stuff. And then he made that big number on 12 and kind of flipped the switch.

"I was actually joking with him (in 2022) about that round. And he was like, 'Yeah that really pissed me off’. That's one of those special things that makes Tiger Tiger. A lot of guys would have thrown in the towel there for sure.

"The shot he hit into 16 was probably the best iron shot I've ever seen. The wind was blowing hard. Pin was on top right. Greens were soft. He hit this no-spinning cut 7-iron. No matter what direction the wind was going to go, I felt he was going to hit that ball to a foot. It was just so purely struck. Not a lot of spin. Fading toward the pin. It was pretty amazing."

Lowry said he learned a big lesson from Woods that day too. "I've talked to other people about this,” Lowry told Harig. "When I see him now and then, he mentions it. It still gets to him that he did that. He was so mad that day, and then he played the last six holes like Tiger Woods.

"We played week in and week out on tour, we go out on Sundays lying in 50th or 60th spot, and you see lads giving up. I don't give up. I don't think I've ever given up. Always try to shoot the best score I possibly can. “I think I learned even more about it that day from him. He made a 10 and went to like 50th in the tournament and was obviously really pissed off. And then he went and tried his nuts off for the last six holes. When the greatest of all time to do it doesn't give up, the rest of us should follow suit."

Lowry said he was reminded of Woods when he was struggling in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in horrible conditions at Kingsbarns in 2022 and was seven over after eight. "I was standing on the ninth tee going I could actually shoot the worst score I've ever shot today," Lowry said, remarking that he immediately remembered Woods at Augusta.

"Stuff like that keeps me going. I was one under for my last six holes to break eighty. And I was actually quite proud of myself. You take stuff like that. We’re proud golfers. You look at your score after a round and you want it to be good. Tiger provided a great lesson.”

Lowry learned a lot about Augusta National in 2020, and his coach, Neil Manchip, believes watching Woods in the first few rounds alone was a game-changer.

“Shane played with Tiger there in 2020 and really got a good understanding of how he played the course,” Manchip said. “He really plotted his way around very well, he didn't take on any unnecessary shots and shot four-under at his ease out there, if I remember. He played with Tiger on three of the four days and got a really good understanding of how he played the course so that definitely helped Shane's perception of how he navigates his way around the course. “You maybe arrive somewhere and you think you have to do things a certain way. And you see somebody else do it differently and you think, 'Ah, works pretty well for him. Let's give that a shot’.”

Lowry arrives in Augusta this year with great form under his belt and knows that if things go his way, he can win the Masters.

“Yeah, I'd be very hopeful,” he said late last year. “I think my performances there last few years, even the last four years, have been pretty good. “I feel like it's certainly a tournament where I can contend — get to the back nine on Sunday and just give it a whirl. If it comes off, it comes off. It’s one of those. “But the clock is obviously ticking and I’ve only got a few more left. There are only a certain few weeks where you do actually show up with your best stuff, and you just have to take advantage when you do.”