Shane Lowry believes he can learn a lot from the Hero Dubai Desert Classic after being left ‘hurt’ by a disappointing final hole at the Dubai Invitational on Sunday.
Lowry came agonizingly close to winning his first DP World Tour title since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship and his first world success since April 2024 at the season opener, where he moved to the top of the leaderboard during an eventful final round.
The Irishman fought back after three birdies in his first four holes and held a one-shot lead at the 72nd hole, where he found a greenside bunker with his second shot on the final par-four before finding the water with his third.
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Highlights from Day 4 of the Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek Resort, where Nacho Elvira took the win
A final double bogey dropped Lowry to third on par and two shots behind winner Nacho Elvira, although the 38-year-old is keen to take positives from that performance into this week’s Rolex Series event – live on Thursday from 4am on Ski Sports Golf.
“I don’t think you can be stupid and say ‘oh let’s just forget about last week and move on – I think you have to look at what you learned from it,'” Lowry said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I feel like you’re always learning week by week, day by day, and last week was no different.”
“The great thing about golf is that even if I won last week, you’re still here as another player this week and you’re still here to play Thursday and you want to play well. No matter what’s behind you, it doesn’t change anything going forward.”
On how he dealt with the lack of victory, Lowry added: “I think it was just a lot of open and honest conversations with my coaches, my team and myself and my caddy (about) what we did wrong, what we can do better. There’s certainly a few things – it wasn’t just the last hole last week.”
Shane Lowry narrowly missed out on victory at the Dubai Invitational on Sunday after leading the points on the final day
“I probably had a few too many threes last week. I had a few times where I probably dropped stupid shots, so it wasn’t just the last hole last week that let me down. There were a few things along the way. I felt like I played great golf and I think you have to look at that and take the positives and take them forward.”
Lowry also finished runner-up to McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Sepp Straka at the PGA Tour’s Truist Championship last season, with past experiences helping him bounce back from Sunday’s disappointment.
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Highlights from round four of the 2025 Truist Championship, where Shane Lowry narrowly missed out on victory
Don’t get me wrong, if I did that at the Masters, it would take me a lot more than a day to get over it,” Lowry explained. “Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve won a tournament, so it would be nice to win any tournament — any of the tours I play.
“Like it hurt last week. Did it hurt like a really big event, a big event or something? No, absolutely not. I still want to win. I still play every week wanting to win.”
“That’s what’s difficult about this game, isn’t it. There’s a lot of players who played last week and are now in the range trying to find their game, but they didn’t feel as bad as I did when they left Dubai Creek (resort) on Sunday night.”
“That’s the funny thing about golf – I’ve probably played close to 400 tournaments in my career and only won seven. You lose a lot more than you win, so you get used to losing as a professional golfer.”
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Shane Lowry holed three of the world’s most famous par-threes before hitting the putt that saw Europe retain the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black
“There are certain weeks when you finish fifth and you’re happy, or third and you’re happy, but more often than not, you leave the tournament on Sunday night and you’re not happy with yourself. You get used to it and learn to deal with it and move on and look to the future.”
Tyrell Hutton returns as the defending champion at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, having beaten Rory McIlroy four times. Lowry, McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Hovland are among the other members of the European Ryder Cup team in action.
Watch the Hero Dubai Desert Classic all week live on Ski Sports. Live coverage begins with Thursday’s Featured Groups from 4:00 on Ski Sports Golf, before full coverage from 7:30. Get Ski Sports or stream without a contract on NOW.