After some sluggish moments this season, the doubts were setting in for Shane Lowry.
The Offaly native struggled to find any real rhythm, before a third place in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and fourth in the Cognizant Classic seemed to kick his game into gear ahead of the Masters.
Lowry made the cut at the first major of the year at Augusta, but was well removed from the top end of the action.
"I played alright golf throughout the week, just made a lot of bogeys, a lot of bogeys. No big mistakes, nothing disastrous, just a lot of bogeys," he said after a final-round 74 saw him finish in a tie for 46th.
Yet it was the recent victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event at TPC Louisiana alongside Rory McIlroy that served as a reminder of his place among the best in the business.
It means Lowry enters the 106th US PGA Championship at Valhalla hoping to translate that growing confidence on what remains a notoriously challenging golf course.
The 2019 Open winner tees off tomorrow (6.18pm Irish time) with Jason Day and Nicolai Højgaard and says he is keen to continue his upward trend in form.
"I feel like my driving stats are great, my iron stats are great, my chipping is always pretty good.
"I feel if I can hole a few putts I will always be dangerous."
The recent victory in New Orleans cannot be underestimated. Aside from the winner’s cheque of $1.2m, 400 FedEx points and the extension of Lowry’s PGA Tour card through to 2026, it breathed fire back into his competitive spirit.
"As your career goes on and gets longer and longer, you have your ups and your downs. Everyone has them, you just have to get on with it," he said.
"You have to keep trucking away, trying as hard as you can and that’s what I’m doing.
"If I keep doing that, it might happen this week, it might be a few weeks in Canada (RBC Canadian Open), it might down the road in Troon (Open Championship in July).
"You just don’t know, you have to keep believing in yourself and believe what you are doing is the right thing.
"I was doubting myself a lot at the start of the year, but my performances over the last few months have shown me that I’m well able to compete at this level."
This week is being described as a big-hitters paradise. With 7,609 yards to negotiate and six par-4s measuring 475 yards or longer, Valhalla may not be Lowry’s ideal choice of a golf course. In 2014 he finished 15 shots adrift of winner McIlroy and his control of the driver will be crucial if he is to feature into the weekend.
Ranked 132nd on the PGA Tour in average driving distance, he finished in a tie for 47th at Quail Hollow last week, another course suited to those making big numbers off the tee.
Yet the Wells Fargo Championship demonstrated that Lowry’s bigger fixes were on the greens rather than with the driver, ranking second last in the field in strokes gained putting.
Having dispensed with the traditional two-ball putter this season, Lowry is hopeful a slight change in his club choice will lead to more rewards.
"It’s not a big change because it looks similar, it’s a mallet style, but it’s something different. It has felt good. To win at Zurich with it was nice.
"From five to 15 feet, if I can see a few of those going in it would be very nice."
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