Smylie Kaufman says he’s been in awe of one part of Shane Lowry’s game ahead of The Open

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Smylie Kaufman says he has been in awe of one part of Shane Lowry’s game this year, as he tipped the Irishman to contend in The Open Championship at Royal Troon this week.

Shane Lowry is one of the past champions in the field at Royal Troon, with the 37-year-old winning The Open title at Royal Portrush back in 2019. Lowry managed to win by six shots to secure his first major title.

Of course, much of the talk from a European perspective heading into this week has been focused on Rory McIlroy and Robert MacIntyre, with the latter winning the Scottish Open last week, while McIlroy is making his first major appearance since the US Open at Pinehurst.

But it seems that Smylie Kaufman believes that one of their Ryder Cup teammates may have gone slightly under the radar heading into the final major of the year.

Shane Lowry backed to contend at The Open

Speaking on The Smylie Show, Kaufman suggested that Lowry has the game to put himself right in the mix in the coming days, and perhaps clinch a second major title.

“Shane Lowry, to me, has had a fantastic ball-striking year, and when you look at the FedEx Cup, you look at the standings, you’re like wow, Shane Lowry, he’s up there,” he said.

“Had a tremendous beginning of the year, and I was just in awe of how well he was hitting his long irons and his mid irons. I’m going to say as well, Open Championship, Shane Lowry, just seems like why wouldn’t want to cheer for Shane Lowry at The Open? You have that pulling me in that direction.”

A track record on links golf

Lowry has definitely been improving as the season has gone on. The highlight early on was finishing third at Bay Hill before he won alongside Rory McIlroy in New Orleans.

He finished in a tie for sixth at the PGA Championship, and was also in the top 20 at Pinehurst, so he is producing some good performances in the biggest events. And crucially, he has shown that he can thrive on links golf.

The conditions are likely to have a big say in who emerges victorious at Troon this week, but Lowry knows that he has the game to handle the demands of one of the sport’s most unique tests.