OFFALY star Shane Lowry is among the favourites for this week’s Valspar Championship.
The world number 15 is part of a relatively strong field set to take part in the final stop of the Florida Swing.
And he’ll start the PGA Tour event as one of the favourites after posting four top-20 finishes in his last five events, the most recent coming at The Players Championship at PGA HQ.
He’s competed at the Valspar Championship twice, finishingT49 in 2018 and T12 in 2022.
The Clara native ranks seventh on the PGA Tour in strokes gained tee to green (1.294 per round) and approach play (0.925), while also sitting 26th around the green (0.336) and 73rd in putting (0.147).
His consistency extends to other key metrics, ranking 63rd in driving accuracy, 49th in bogey avoidance, and 27th in scrambling.
Notably, he ranks in the 92nd percentile for proximity from 150-200 yards over the past year – a crucial range that accounted for 37% of all approach shots at this venue last season.
Lowry is a long as 33/1 with some bookmakers in a field that consists of Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Sepp Straka to name but a few.
His Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood leads the lines with all the bookmakers at 11/1 for the third last tournament before the Masters – the Englishman is yet to secure a PGA Tour title.
Elsewhere, Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin will enter the Porsche Singapore Open as the favourite as he hopes to earn crucial world rankings points.
The Down man is a best price 16/1 with the bookie, his LIV Golf colleague Paul Casey comes in at 20/1, while Rob McIntyre tops the favourites list at 8/1 in South East Asia.
The 22-year-old penned a multi-million dollar deal with LIV Golf to join Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team last year.
Tom McKibbin is allowed to compete in DP World Tour events despite his ties to LIV Golf, thanks to the current policies of the tour.
Unlike the PGA Tour, which has enforced strict bans on LIV Golf players, the DP World Tour permits their participation under certain conditions.
These include paying fines and fulfilling specific obligations to maintain eligibility.
In McKibbin’s case, he has opted to retain his DP World Tour membership, allowing him to play in select events that do not clash with the LIV Golf schedule.
However, while he can enter these tournaments, his opportunities in majors and other key events may be restricted due to the absence of Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points in LIV Golf tournaments.
Bothe events get underway on Thursday.
