Shane Lowry will be chasing when he tees up in the WGC-HSBC Champions, where the Irishman is bidding to become only the second player in history to win back-to-back World Golf Championships.If he could add the WGC-HSBC Champions to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational title he won in such memorable fashion, Lowry would join Tiger Woods in a very exclusive club of players to achieve the feat.
Woods has claimed successive WGC titles on seven occasions – albeit not always in the same season – but has never won the WGC-HSBC Champions, which returns to Sheshan International Golf Club, in Shanghai, for its seventh edition from November 5-8.
Lowry collected both The European Tour’s Player and Shot of the Month trophies on the back of his breakthrough victory at Firestone Country Club, and the self-belief he took from that performance has given the genial Irishman every reason to believe that he can not only triumph in the third most populous city in the world, but also overhaul the current Race to Dubai leader, Rory McIlroy.
Shane Lowry could join Tiger Woods in carving out a slice of WGC history should he win in Shanghai. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)
Lowry said: “I definitely have a lot more self-belief now after my win at Firestone. I had a nice break, but I came back mentally fresh and with a new set of goals.
“I feel like I’m doing everything the right way, and I’m preparing myself well. If I can keep doing that I think I could have a very good end to the season. I definitely feel like I’ve taken my game to the next level – I now expect to compete with the best players in the world in the biggest tournaments in the world.
“To win one WGC event was special enough – to win another would be incredible. I’m just over half a million behind Rory in The Race to Dubai, and I’d definitely love to put myself into a position to have a crack at it in Dubai.
“Because of the size of the prize fund, if I can win the WGC-HSBC Champions I can definitely win The Race to Dubai. That has to be my aim for the rest of the season now. It’s going to take some great golf, but I definitely feel I’m capable.”
If Lowry does claim his fourth European Tour title in Shanghai, he would add his name to a glittering cast of former champions, with the American trio of Bubba Watson (2014), Dustin Johnson (2013) and Phil Mickelson (2009), England’s Ian Poulter (2012), Germany’s Martin Kaymer (2011) and Italian Francesco Molinari (2010) all having lifted the trophy.
- Story thanks to www.europeantour.com
