For Shane Lowry, the season just gone – as he intends to focus on family time for the coming weeks and months – proved the most consistent of his career so far, with a string of top-10s and just two missed cuts in a campaign that saw him play in 28 tournaments.
Lowry won’t reappear again competitively until the PGA Tour hits the west coast of the USA in mid-January and, while reflecting on a season that saw him win once (in partnership with Rory McIlroy at the Zurich Classic, a two-man team event), he remarked: “I feel I’d like to have won [individually] and feel like I could have with the golf I’ve played. But I showed this year that I still have a lot of good golf in me ... I feel like I gave a good account of myself in the Majors this year and the big events. It’s all going the right direction, and hopefully the future is bright.”
The bare figures back him up. In 28 tournaments, Lowry had that one win, two third-placed finishes and finished between fourth and 10th on five occasions. At the end of last year, he was ranked 39th in the world. After putting the clubs away in Dubai, Lowry had moved to 28th on the updated world rankings.
His main aim for next year? “The forefront of my mind is the Ryder Cup next year. I really want to be part of that side [at Bethpage] and I want to be part of a winning side. So I’ll do everything I can over the next nine months to do that and hopefully get the job done.”
A box of Pro V1s is the Christmas present of choice for many. But do they help the average golfer?
Chip-in off the old block: Harrington and Woods jnrs make first holes in one at PNC Championship
Three Irish players gain full status on Ladies European Tour next year
Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards: ‘The greatest collection of women in Irish sport in one place ever assembled’
Ballyneety Golf Club to host Junior Ryder Cup
The future stars of men’s and women’s golf will grace the fairways at Ballyneety Golf Club with confirmation from the European Tour Group that the Co Limerick parkland course will stage the opening two days of the 2027 Junior Ryder Cup, with the final day’s play at Adare Manor.
Ballyneety – designed by Ryder Cup player Des Smyth and former Irish amateur international Declan Branigan – was chosen to co-host the Junior match between Europe and the United States, with match director Edward Kitson remarking “the next generation of golfing superstars will relish the opportunity to compete on the championship-standard layout.”
John Leamy, general manager of Ballyneety Golf club, described as “a true honour” being chosen to stage the first two days of the match. “We are looking forward to welcoming the world’s emerging golf talent,” he said.
When the match was staged in Rome last year, Seán Keeling was part of Stephen Gallacher’s successful Europe team. Rory McIlroy and Leona Maguire are past participants.
By the Numbers: 58
A missed cut at the Annika driven by Gainbridge tournament left Leona Maguire anxiously watching events unfold over the weekend (where Nelly Korda won) before she was guaranteed to remain inside the top-60 who made it to this week’s LPGA Tour finale, the CME Group Tour Championship at Tiburon in Florida. Maguire slipped one place from 57th to 58th in the standings to earn her place in the limited field, where the winner will collect a $3 million pay-day.
Word of Mouth
“It has been a surreal, surreal week. It was clearly meant to be!” – Rafael Campos, after his breakthrough PGA Tour win in the Bermuda Championship. Campos’s wife gave birth to a daughter on Monday and he only made it to Bermuda on Thursday, in time for the first round.
On this day: November 19th, 1995
Annika Sörenstam showcased her game globally in a dominant season, leading the money lists on both the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour, and her win in the Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines resort on the Gold Coast only served to reaffirm her position as the world number one.
The Swede shot a record low total of 22-under-par 270 to win by eight strokes from American Jane Geddes but still wasn’t entirely happy with a final round 69 which she added to rounds of 66-68-67: “I was very happy with the way I played the first three days but I was a little tentative today and I was swinging the clubs too fast. I didn’t play as aggressively as I would have liked.”
The win was Sörenstam’s sixth of the season, to go with her US Open, GHP Classic and Samsung World Championship wins on the LPGA Tour and her Austrian Open and Hennessy Cup wins on the LET.
X-Twitter Twaddle
As another successful season wraps @DPWorldTour it’s clear pro golf needs a new landscape to develop. As the little guy in the middle of 2 huge financial powerhouses the DPWT has survived & thrived in a very difficult business environment against huge odds – Paul McGinley setting out his view on how the DP World Tour has moved on.
Serrano v Taylor was one of the best competitive boxing matches I’ve ever seen – US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Brisbane this week season 18 as a pro, time flies – Tour veteran Richie Ramsay on starting out the new golf season Down Under in the BMW Australian PGA Championship, the first event of the 2025 DP World Tour season. Gary Hurley is the only Irish players in the field.
Know the Rules
Q In stroke play, a player has interference to their stance from an immovable obstruction. They determine their nearest point of complete relief using a five iron (as that is the club he would have used had the immovable obstruction not been there) and drop the ball within one club-length of that point, no nearer the hole. The ball settles down in the rough, so the player changes club and plays the ball out on to the fairway with a sand wedge. What is the ruling?
A There is no penalty. Once the ball is dropped, it is back in play. The player must then decide what type of stroke they will make. This stroke, which includes the choice of club, may be different from the one that would have been made from the ball’s original spot had the condition not been there (Clarification Nearest Point of Complete Relief/4).
In the Bag – Rory McIlroy
DP World Tour Championship
Driver – TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees)
3-wood – TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
5-wood – TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Irons – TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9)
Wedges – TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 (46 degrees), TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 (50 degrees), TaylorMade Milled Grind 4 (54 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design Wedgeworks (59 degrees)
Putter – TaylorMade Spider Tour X
Ball – TaylorMade TP5x MySymbol Rors
