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Lowry sizes up a permanent move to America

Shane Lowry Expand
Shane Lowry

Brian Keogh

Shane Lowry is seriously considering a permanent move to the US as he bids to add to his 2019 Open Championship triumph.

The Clara man (34) has bought a home in Florida and while no definitive decision has yet been made, he feels using the US as his base could be the best solution for his game.

“Iris (his daughter) has just turned four and she is starting school soon so we have big decisions to be made in the next six months,” Lowry told RTÉ Radio Sport. “I think this is where golf is going to be for the foreseeable future, if you want to play at the highest level.”

Hoping the next “six, seven, eight years will be the best years of my career,” he added, “I’m very driven. I’m more driven now than I’ve ever been. I really want to do a lot in this game and I really feel like I’ve got the ability to do a lot and hopefully I can give people at home something to cheer about over the next while.”

On the PGA Tour, Graeme McDowell and Matt Wallace were left to rue a quadruple-bogey eight as they tied for 24th on 12-under after closing with a level par 72 in the foursomes in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Seven shots behind Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen overnight and still buzzing after McDowell’s ace on the 17th on Friday, they opened with two birdies at TPC Louisiana before hitting successive tee shots into water right at the 482-yard fourth and then bogeyed the ninth before rallying with three back nine birdies..

On the European Tour, Royal Dublin’s Niall Kearney closed with a two-under 68 to tie for 21st on 14-under with Jonathan Caldwell, who shot 66, in the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open.

South African Garrick Higgo shot a seven-under 63 to win by three shots from Germany’s Max Kieffer on 25-under, but Kearney was thrilled to see his winter practice with coach Eddie Doyle pay off.

“I had great ball control in the wind which was very satisfying,” said Kearney (33), who now plays this week’s Tenerife Open, where Holywood’s Tom McKibbin (18) will make his professional debut, and next week’s Canary Islands Championship.

“I went to Spain to play a few games with my dad and a great friend from Royal Dublin, but I didn’t realise I was going to get into these events and was booked to go to South Africa for Challenge Tour.”

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Brandon Stone birdied the first extra hole to win for the first time in almost three years at the Challenge Tour’s Limpopo Championship at Euphoria Golf Club.

He closed with a two-under 70 to tie with compatriots Oliver Bekker, Hennie du Plessis and Daniel van Tonder on eight-under-par.

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