“A disaster, that’s what that was” - Lowry inconsolable after closing double costs him overdue win
The 18th-hole double bogey “disaster” that cost Shane Lowry the Dubai Invitational will hurt for a few days, but he only has to chat to pal Pádraig Harrington at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic to gain some invaluable perspective on the fine line between victory and defeat.
"What separates the players who do win and the others is the desire to keep putting yourself on the line,” Harrington said 18 years ago when speaking of his three major wins and his refusal to allow a brutal run of near misses - 28 runner-ups and 10 thirds in his first 11 seasons against "just" 13 wins— to sap his confidence.
“You've got to put your neck out there and if you do, it will get chopped off sometimes. You're going to have situations that you mess up.
"If you're continually in contention, you're going to have guys that do great things and times when things simply go against you. Some players don't like that feeling, but the more times you get in there, the better and stronger you become.
"Certainly, there are people who are so afraid of losing, they don't get themselves into that position as often. It's a subconscious thing. I'm sure any of the psychologists will tell you, if you get hurt often enough, you wouldn't want to go back.”
Lowry wasn't quite seeing it the same way and bitterly lamented his failure to get over the line.
“A disaster, that’s what that was,” Lowry told the Telegraph. “I should be winning that and this one will hurt. This is my 18th season as a pro and I’m still no closer to understanding this game. It is nuts.”
Lowry teed it up at Dubai Creek, having not won an individual title since he held off Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm to win the BMW PGA at Wentworth in September 2022 — a winless streak of 1,225 days.
He won in his first start in Abu Dhabi in 2019 when he went on to win The Open later that year.
Winning again soon was one of his declared goals for 2026 and after going into the final round tied for second, just two strokes behind eventual winner Nacho Elvira, he birdied three of his first four holes to remain in the hunt.
When he bogeyed the seventh and was three strokes behind the Spaniard with nine holes to play, he plodded along and found himself just a shot back when Elvira bogeyed the eighth and ninth and did well to save par after rinsing his second at the par-five 10th.
A birdie at the 13th put Lowry in a five-way tie for the lead with Elvira, Daniel Hillier, Marcus Armitage and McIlroy, who came from six shots off the pace with a stunning run of five birdies in a row from the ninth.
It was anyone’s title, but after Lowry rolled in a 25-footer at the 15th to edge a shot on the front, the golfing gods frowned on him this time and condemned him to his sixth top-three finish without a win since Scottie Scheffler outgunned him at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
McIlroy needed a birdie at the last to tie with Lowry on 10-under, but a poor drive led to a bogey instead and he slipped back to eight under.
Leading by a shot playing the treacherous 18th, Lowry looked poised to win and had 140 yards to the green from the semi-rough.
He aimed conservatively a few yards left of the pin, but crucially flew his approach ten feet too far and watched it trickle over the green into the same deep bunker that also cost McIlroy.
As Lowry sized up his difficult recovery, Elvira fired a brilliant approach to seven feet at the 17th to set up what proved the tournament-winning birdie.
The Clara man got no spin as he battled to get his sand shot close and after it trickled over the green into the creek.
As Lowry sized up his drop, Elvira made his birdie putt to tie with him on 10-under, a shot ahead of Hillier, who shot 65 to set the target.
After a penalty drop, Lowry did well to pitch to six feet and make the putt for a double-bogey six for a 69. But it was only good enough to tie for third with McIlroy, David Puig and Julien Guerrier on eight under.
Elvira came within inches of finding the water at the last but watched his approach stay up, just off the green and went on to two-putt for a 69 and his third DP World Tour win.
There was no consoling Lowey, who described his bunker shot as “an absolute shocker”.
“It’s not good enough,” Lowry said. “It’s been a few years since I’ve won. It’s hard to get over the line and I should have but I didn’t. I’ll lick my wounds and move on and get going for next week. What else can I do?”
As for Elvira, he was unaware of Lowry’s misadventures on the 18th.
“The leaderboards are facing the other way, so I had no idea,” Elvira (38) said of Lowry’s 18th-hole double-bogey. “I tried to go for it, and I was lucky enough that I had enough club to go just a little bit past the pin.
“When I turned around and I knew I had two putts to win, I felt more nervous to be honest. It's a good position to be in, but I was just a little bit nervous. But very happy.”
McIlroy was disappointed not to give himself a chance to birdie the last, but he was upbeat heading to the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, where he will be going for his fifth win.
“It would have been nice to hit the fairway at the last to give myself a chance for birdie there,” said McIlroy, who admitted on Saturday he was treating the Dubai Invitational as a practice event.
"Overall, it was a good first week back. I felt like I learned a lot of stuff about my game. "I wasn't very sharp, but hopefully I'm a little bit sharper going into next week than I was going into this week, I guess.”
Lowry can only feel the same as McIlroy heading to the Emirates Golf Club, where they will be joined by Harrington and Tom McKibbin.
As McKibbin shot 70 to finish tied for 38th on five over, the Dubliner matched Holywood star’s one under effort by making 17 pars and a lone birdie to finish 46th on eight over.
