Lowry's best is yet to come, insists Manchip
The best is still to come for Shane Lowry as the in-form Irishman gears up for next month’s Masters, according to long-time coach Neil Manchip.
The 36-year-old former Open champion, who was due to tee off overnight in the opening round of the Singapore Open, has strung together three top-20 finishes, including two top-fives, in his last three starts on the PGA Tour in the United States.
Manchip, who helped guide Lowry to a historic Open victory at Royal Portrush in 2019, has seen his pupil claim a tie for fourth place at Palm Beach Gardens in the Cognizant Classic and follow up with third place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in his next start.
His recent performances have propelled Lowry back into the top 50 of the Official Golf World Rankings.
Last Sunday’s tie for 19th at The Players completed a successful Florida Swing and sent him to number 34 ahead of his trip to the Far East.
With Augusta National and the first major of the year now just three weeks away, Manchip is both happy with Lowry’s form and excited for what lies ahead beyond.
“I think the ambitions are always there,” he said of Lowry.
“The win in Portrush was huge and a career milestone and going on to win Wentworth (BMW PGA Championship) the year before last, on a favourite course of Shane's, was a huge victory for him as well, especially the way he did it in the final round.
"But nothing specific around that, absolutely I do think the best is yet to come. I think you're always learning as a person, as a golfer, managing your schedule, managing your game, everything else that's going on in your life. So yeah, the best is yet to come.”
Having slipped outside the top 50 of the OGWR for the first time in five years with a T60 at February’s Phoenix Classic, Lowry has turned a corner since, although Manchip said: “I would say from the start of the year he has been playing very well. He started off at Palm Springs, he shot -12 and missed the cut, he holed out with a 9 iron at the last.
"So yeah, I've been very happy with his game. He's been playing very solidly, he played nicely in Phoenix, played nicely in Torrey Pines, he's been getting off to a great start every week and obviously Bay Hill was kind of a big milestone for him, playing so well on a course he has struggled on in the past.
"He's looked at the course a little differently and combined that with good form, and had a very strong result.
“Happy with his game and had a good stretch in the States and after this week he'll have a couple of weeks break and practice before Augusta, and I guess like a lot of players it's a build up towards that first major of the year.”
Manchip was speaking yesterday at Golf Ireland’s annual media day at Carton House.
Aside from being Lowry’s coach he is the governing body’s High-Performance Director.
It was a briefing in which its chief executive Mark Kenneally highlighted a “golden window” for golf on the island of Ireland over the next four years as it continues its mission to increase player participation and “open up the sport to everyone”.
Ireland is set to host both the men’s and women’s Amateur Championships in June at Ballyliffin and Portmarnock respectively, and the Palmer Cup at Lahinch in July, with Portrush returning as the Open host venue in 2025, the Walker Cup in 2026 at Lahinch and then the Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in 2027.
"We see huge potential and golden opportunity over the next four years with the big global events what are coming to our island,” Kenneally said.
"So we're at the moment developing plans around how we will harness the high profile those events will create for golf to create a really lasting legacy for our sport which is about opening golf to new communities, broadening the base, growing the number of women and girls who are playing, increasing our inclusion strategy.”
The Golf Ireland CEO added: "We've a number of specific initiatives about growing the game as well. We're really looking at that five-year horizon.
"You don't build a legacy in one month or one year or around one event, it's really about harnessing these events as a collective to try to make sure we have a lasting impact.
"So by the end of that cycle, and there could be big golf events coming to the island in the future, that we will have put down firm foundations around growing the appeal of our game and making sure that people from all backgrounds, genders and abilities want to get involved in our sport.”
