Shane Lowry's final act of a long season was to sizzle in the desert, where his final round endeavours in the DP World Tour Championship – a sensational closing round 63 for 270, just one stroke shy of champion Jon Rahm – saw him earn a payday of €612,356 to soothe any wounds on missing out on the jackpot.
Having contended into the final round of the recent Turkish Airlines Open only to fade away late on, Lowry took a different approach in the European Tour’s finale as he leapfrogged through the field with a 10-birdie (and one lone bogey) haul that saw him move into a share of the lead until Rahm’s birdie on the 16th – en route to a 67 – saw the Spaniard break free.
Still, Lowry’s rewards are significant. Apart from the financial dividends, the 30-year-old Offalyman earned precious world ranking points (set to move back into the top 60) and added to his Ryder Cup qualifying points total in his quest to make the team for Paris next year.
In one swoop he almost doubled his season’s winnings on the European Tour, his €612,356 take bringing his season’s final total to €1,393,916.
Lowry's runner-up finish saw him move to sixth in the Ryder Cup European points standing, while Paul Dunne has slipped to seventh. Lowry's strong recent form has seen him earn 1,024,447 points in qualifying to date. It is anticipated around three million points will be required to claim the fourth qualifying spot off that European points list for Paris.
“I didn’t know I was going to shoot the best score of the season on my last day of the season; at least it gives me something to smile about going into my Christmas break... I’m very happy going into my off-season,” said Lowry.
Lots of chances
He added: “This [round] is payback for any bad scores I’ve had over the last while...my iron play has been great of late. I’ve given myself lots of chances. The last few weeks, I’ve managed to hole a few putts, and this week in particular I felt like I drove it quite well. I felt like my whole game came together this week.”
On a day of winners all round – Rahm, the European Tour rookie of the year, collected a cheque for €1.17 million in adding a second title to his DDF Irish Open crown, and Tommy Fleetwood claimed a $1 million for edging out Justin Rose for the Race to Dubai title – Lowry's runner-up finish, his best of the season, means that he finished 22nd in the final order of merit.
Dunne failed to break into the top 10 who divvied up the Race to Dubai bonus pool. A final round 75 for 279 saw the Greystones man finish in tied-25th. Dunne’s return of €74,117 in Dubai saw him finish 16th in the order of merit, with season’s earnings of €1,695,041.
