US Open: Shane Lowry says he has improved since 2019 ahead of latest major bid

“There are parts of my game that are definitely better. There are parts I can always improve on but the form I’m in, I played OK in Canada last week, not amazing, and played lovely in Valhalla.

“I certainly feel like a better player than I was then. Maybe that’s just the positive golfer coming out in me.”

The “lovely” golf at Valhalla to which Lowry refers helped him finish in a tie for sixth at the US PGA Championship, his best finish in a major since the 2022 Masters.

His scorching, record-tying Saturday 62 on the Louisville layout had set him up for a tilt at a second major, and while a final-round 70 left him frustrated, his game appears in fine shape ahead of next week’s US Open and the Open at Royal Troon in mid-July.

This year’s US Open returns to Pinehurst No.2 for the first time since 2014, and while Lowry missed the cut 10 years ago, he is relishing another crack at the demanding North Carolina course.

“I remember really struggling on the grass around there, around the greens, the grain,” Lowry recalls of 2014.

“But since then, I’ve moved to Florida and I play on that grass week in, week out so I imagine it won’t cause me as much trouble.

“The course will need iron play and straight driving off the tee. If I go there with my game in shape, I feel like I can do something.”