Come back Shane: Lowry's US profile takes off

Shane Lowry wants to build on the impact he made at last week’s WGC-Accenture Matchplay and concentrate on establishing a foothold…

Shane Lowry wants to build on the impact he made at last week’s WGC-Accenture Matchplay and concentrate on establishing a foothold on the PGA Tour over the next 10 weeks.

According to his agent at Horizon Sports Management, Conor Ridge, the Offaly man’s profile has “taken off” since he beat Rory McIlroy in the first round at Dove Mountain last week. “He is keen to play here and focus on that, if he can get the starts, in the short term,” Ridge said. “There is not a whole lot happening on the European Tour between now and the BMW PGA at Wentworth so he can concentrate on trying to play here for the next couple of months and then go back to his regular European Tour schedule. It’s a great opportunity for him and we just need to work hard to get him starts because the Accenture Matchplay was really huge for his profile over here.”

World number 62 Lowry narrowly failed to make the field for this week’s Honda Classic when former Ryder Cup player Vaughan Taylor birdied the final hole in a Monday qualifier at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club to deny him a possible play-off for the last of four spots in this week’s field.

But having secured an invitation for Lowry for next week’s Puerto Rico Open on the PGA Tour, Ridge is busy chasing as many US Tour invitations as he can get. “It’s very difficult but we are trying to get him into the Arnold Palmer at Bay Hill, the Shell Houston Open, Valero Texas Open, Transitions . . . Anything we can get him into,” Ridge said.

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Lowry tried to get an invitation this week but was lower in the pecking order than Matteo Manassero, Branden Grace, Paul Casey and David Duval.