SHANE LOWRY is set to remain out in the cold for a little while longer. Although the European Tour works its way through its Gulf Swing – this week’s tournament in Qatar is the third leg of a four-week sequence which finishes with next week’s Dubai Desert Classic – there is unlikely to be any late dash across the time zones for Lowry, who has been recovering from a wrist injury suffered in a fall on ice during the winter cold snap.
The Offaly man had hoped to belatedly kick-start his season in Dubai, but is now unlikely to play competitively until next month’s Sicilian Open. The good news for Lowry is that he has finally been given the medical all-clear but with the advice to ease his way back into tournament play.
Consequently, the Desert Classic – which will include Tiger Woods on a reputed appearance fee of €3.5 million – has come just too soon in his recovery and the way the remaining weeks work out in the calendar, with two world golf championships inside a three-week period in the States, militates against him.
It means Lowry is resigned to a later start in March than his peers on tour but it hasn’t affected his determination to achieve his goals for the season, which include qualifying for the elite 60-man field in the season-ending Race to Dubai.
“The injury is not an ideal start, but I know what needs to be done and am confident I have the game to achieve that,” said Lowry, who played in two Majors last year (the British Open and the US PGA) and who has included more major appearances this season as one of his aims.
While Lowry takes on board the medical advice to ease his way back towards full fitness before playing competitively, others – including Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington – are missing out on this week’s big-money event in Qatar because it doesn’t fit in with their schedules: G-Mac is on a four-week break and won’t be playing again until the Accenture Matchplay, while Harrington resumes play in next week’s ATT Pebble Beach Pro-Am and McIlroy is resuming his schedule in Dubai.
Harrington, incidentally, has slipped to 32nd in the latest world rankings. McDowell has dropped one place to fifth, being leapfrogged by Phil Mickelson, while McIlroy has also dropped one position to eighth. Harrington left Bahrain acknowledging that his short game required work during his time at home this week.
Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, currently first and second respectively in the world, head the field in the 132-man tournament in Qatar. Kaymer needs to win with Westwood finishing outside the top two or finish second with Westwood outside the top-22 if the German is to become world number one. “It’s a golf course that suits me down to the ground,” said Westwood, who is in his 14th week as world number one since ending Woods’s record consecutive stay of 281 weeks.
In fact, four of the world’s top-seven are in the field in Doha with in-form Paul Casey and American Steve Stricker also playing. Five Irish men – Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey and Paul McGinley, playing this season on his career money exemption – are competing. Clarke missed out on a great opportunity to move significantly up the world rankings in Bahrain, where his final round 73 saw him fall from tied-third to a share of eighth place.
