Open champion Shane Lowry believes he will need to secure a third victory of the season to achieve his goal of winning the Race to Dubai.
Lowry is top of the European Tour’s money list courtesy of his Open triumph at Royal Portrush and victory in Abu Dhabi in January but is just 400 points ahead of Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger.
The 32-year-old plans to play at least five events before the season-ending DP World Championship in Dubai and admitted he is eager to get back into action at this week’s BMW PGA Championship.
“I’ve played a couple of events in the States since the Open and coming back here this week it’s kind of new again where everybody is coming up and congratulating me,” said Lowry, who was awarded honorary membership of the European Tour on Tuesday.
“The first time I was announced as Champion Golfer of the Year was pretty cool. It’s a lovely title to have. But to be honest it has sunk in and I’m quite eager to get on with my golf and I’m looking forward to trying to achieve different goals I have the rest of the year.
“The Race to Dubai is the obvious one. I’m number one and I want to stay there, but I’m going to have to play some good golf and I’m going to have to maybe win again.
“But I’m just going to go out like I’ve been doing all year, day after day and try and shoot as good a score as I can and see where it leaves me the at the end of it. First and foremost I want to win the Race to Dubai at the end of the year.”
Wentworth could be the ideal venue for Lowry to get the win he feels he needs, the Irishman having recorded five top-15 finishes in last seven starts at European Tour headquarters, including finishing runner-up to Rory McIlroy in 2014.
“I love it here,” he added. “I think this is one of my favourite events in the world. Just the area itself around Wentworth, Ascot, Sunningdale, it’s just a lovely place to be.
“The golf course I’ve always really liked, even when it used to get a lot of bad press before. Even when they first made the changes back in 2010, I actually really liked it and I just thought it was quite a difficult golf course and I just loved it.
“There’s probably going to be a little bit of rustiness out there. I played today and I played some golf last week. I feel like I’m playing okay.
“Mentally I’m in a good place and I just feel like I can go out and play my own game and see what score I shoot. Like I said, I like it around here, I’ve shot some good scores, so hopefully I can bring back some good memories.”
Can't wait to return to @EuropeanTour for the first time since The Open at Portrush. @BMWPGA here I come, I'll be bringing the Claret Jug with me too! #BMWPGA #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/DpCt96wNKe
— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) 23 August 2019
Lowry admits his life has changed considerably since his emotional victory at Portrush but feels he has handled the extra attention pretty well so far.
“I’m fairly recognisable with my beard I think but I do my normal things, I drop Iris to school and pick her up and we go to the playground and we go for a coffee,” Lowry added.
“I do get stopped a little bit more but I bring her with me so I don’t have to stop and talk because she’s always running around! I think I’ve taken it in my stride pretty well and going forward we’ll see what it’s like.”
