Shane Lowry

Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington are both in action at the Honda Classic in Florida this week. The tournament kicks off just before midday Irish time on ...

I was hoping it was going to repay me back at some stage during the year. “Yes it was a bad break, but they’re the breaks you get in golf. It gave me a lot of confidence for the year ahead.” “I had a two-shot lead with five to play. “It was disappointing at the time, but I remember it kind of kickstarted a nice consistent run of golf for me and I played well going into the Masters then and stuff like that. Lowry was unlucky to not make it to a play-off in last year's Honda Classic after he was caught in a sudden downpour on the 72nd hole and was unable to birdie the par five as Austria’s Sepp Straka had done in the group ahead to take the lead.

PGA National's Champion course is a far cry from linksland, yet John Garrity marvels at the penchant of Irishmen to play well at the Florida stop.

Shane Lowry was beaten by Sepp Straka by a one-stroke margin in last year's Honda Classic, which was hindered by rain on the final day.

The tournament will be telecast live on the Golf Channel on Thursday and Friday from 2-6 pm ET. Straka will have a chance to become the first repeat winner since Jack Nicklaus in 1977-78. "Thankfully got to hit the tee shot without the rain. In Straka's own admission, he was lucky enough to hit the ball 330 yards long before the downpour started. Lowry, who was in the shared lead at the time, was shattered by this. The difference in the distance was 90 yards.

In Florida, Shane Lowry is level par through 4 holes of his opening round at the Honda Classic on the PGA Tour.He's tied 16th with four players at the top ...

Shane Lowry stood soaking wet and cold outside the clubhouse at PGA National a year ago, having finished one shot shy of first-time winner Sepp Straka at The ...

“Yes, if it didn’t rain, the probability was I might have made birdie and got into a playoff, but it wasn’t a God-given right to win,” he said. In fact, he is playing eight of nine weeks to open his season. The winner of the 2019 Open Championship in his home country of Ireland, now ranked 20th in the world, Lowry, 35, has a U.S. He went and won the tournament.” (He hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation.) In mild conditions, the Champion course had provided a morning that was scoring-friendly, but Lowry didn’t get enough putts to fall to take full advantage. Straka was in the fairway some 330 yards ahead, his tee shot unimpeded by the elements, a mid-iron in his hand at the closing par 5, where he made a clinching birdie to win.