Shane Lowry unveils Wells Fargo Championship gameplan sure to change fortune

07/05/2024 22:51

Fresh off his victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Irishman Shane Lowry talked about his strategy for the Wells Fargo Championship.

Unlike his fellow compatriot Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry has an abysmal record at Quail Hollow Club, the site of this week's Wells Fargo Championship.

In his four appearances at this course, Lowry has missed the cut twice, tied for 64th, and tied for 34th. He has only broken par during competition here once—a final round 2-under 69 in 2018, when he finished 12 shots behind winner Jason Day.

Yet, Lowry, fresh off his win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with McIlroy, feels like he has a solid game plan to attack Quail Hollow and change the narrative.

"This [course] suits longer hitters. I'm not short, but I'm not one of the longer guys. I just feel like I need not to try to be one of the longer hitters this week, you kind of get what I'm saying?" Lowry said.

"A lot of holes out here, you stand on the tee, and it makes you want to hit the ball hard off the tee, and I feel like if I can get the ball in play and hit the fairways, I can be dangerous because my iron play is my strength. So if I can hit a lot of fairways this week, which is my game plan, there are a lot of bunkers out there, like 300 yards, that I can carry if I hit a really good one, but if I don't hit a good one, it's probably going to be in bad shape."

At this point in the season, Lowry ranks first on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy percentage. He has found the fairway 81.55% of the time, a remarkable number and an attribute he will need to rely on this week.

The man from County Offaly also ranks third in strokes gained: approaching the green. So if he can put himself in position at Quail Hollow, he should give himself plenty of opportunities to make birdies on this former PGA Championship venue.

"I just need to play within myself this week," Lowry added.

"It's nice to come in here with four rounds before [the PGA Championship] next week and just try to play my way into the tournament and give myself a few chances."

Lowry also talked about Bay Hill, the site of the Arnold Palmer Invitational each year, and how he has notoriously struggled on that course, too. Prior to this year, in which he finished solo third, Lowry had recorded four missed cuts in five attempts at Bay Hill. The only time he made it to the weekend came in 2023, when he finished solo 67th.

"Bay Hill was a tournament where I had a much worse record than I do [at Quail Hollow] and managed to play pretty well there [this year]," Lowry said.

"Hopefully, I can do the same this week."

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.