Shane Lowry opens up on what he did behind closed doors after losing the Dubai Invitational 

Lowry’s clutch reputation was well established after he holed the Ryder Cup-clinching putt last summer, but even the steadiest players can feel the impact of a loss like this. He’s trying to handle it with perspective, focusing on moving forward.

Speaking before the Dubai Desert Classic, Lowry told reporters:

“I’ll be honest, I went and packed up my stuff at the hotel, and I got in my car, and I came over to the hotel for this tournament. I felt like sitting in my room for the evening on Sunday evening, but I went and met some friends for dinner.

“Kind of tried to have as good a time as I could, but you kind of go to bed that night and you wake up thinking ‘What if? What could I have done differently?’ Even yesterday was a bit of a slow day for me. I came out here and hit some balls and played nine holes.”

Lowry added that there were still positives to take from his performance despite how things ended:

“Yeah, just trying to get it out of my system really. But I feel good today. And speaking to people closest to me over the last day or so, like you can only take positives from it really,” he continued.

He also said: “I played great last week. Haven’t played in a while. First tournament of the year is nice to get off on such a great start.”

Shane Lowry reveals the key area he needs to improve to win in 2026

Overall, there were still some positives to take from the event. Lowry looked to be enjoying his golf and hopes that he can learn from this and get back to winning ways in 2026.

But he said that he learned a key lesson from the event, and it’s now clear to him that there’s an area of his game that needs work if he’s to take a victory this season. And despite his poor bunker shot on the final hole, chipping isn’t the problem.

Lowry explained: “I think you can’t be stupid and say, Oh, let’s just forget about last week and move on. I think you have to kind of look at what you learned from it.

“Like I’ve been on tour a long time now, and I feel like you’re always learning week-to-week, day-to-day, and like last week is 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 teeing it up on Thursday and you’re wanting to play well.

“No matter what went behind you, it doesn’t change anything going forward. So yeah, I think just a lot of open and honest conversations with my coaches, my team myself and my caddie. What we did wrong? What can we do better?

“You know certainly is a few things. It wasn’t just the last hole last week. There was a few instances during the week. Like I probably had a few too many 3-putts last week or probably dropped silly shots.

“So it wasn’t just the last hole last week that let me down. It was a few things along the way but I felt like I played some great golf so I think you need to look at that look at the positives bring them forward.”