Shane Lowry: I’d have taken your hand off for even half of what I’ve achieved in 2019

This is it. My last tournament of what’s already been an incredible season and I’m still in with a chance of being crowned Europe’s top golfer.

No matter what happens this week, I’ll be happy with what I’ve achieved this year. I’d have taken your hand off 12 months ago for even half of what I’ve achieved in 2019.

Now, it’s all about going out and doing the best that I can in the DP World Tour Championship that tees off on Thursday, and that will ultimately decide who is Europe’s top golfer in the Race to Dubai.

Tommy Fleetwood’s victory in South Africa has shunted me down to fourth behind Bernd Wiesberger, Tommy and Joh Rahm. But I won’t be going out there marking my man or getting too caught up in what scores they’re posting – I’ll just concentrate on my own game.

I’m more likely to keep an eye out for Padraig Harrington’s score, Rory’s McIlroy’s or any of the Irish lads when I’m playing, but that’s about it. After Tommy winning in South Africa. Rory can’t win the Race to Dubai outright now but I’m sure he’ll want his season to end on a high this week.

This game is all about just doing your own thing and trying to perform your best. You can’t really worry about what anyone else is doing because you’ve no control over their scores – you can only concentrate on your own game.

I’d a little chance a few years ago in 2015 to win the Race to Dubai, a squeak, but nothing like the opportunity I have this week. That’s my main goal and I’m looking forward to the challenge of it all. The last five weeks have been hectic with tournaments in Japan, China and Turkey playing competitive golf, all the traveling and the different time zones took its toll a little bit.

It showed in my game in Turkey as my mind and my body just weren’t in sync. It proved that I needed to take a break, so I decided to swerve South Africa last week and just concentrate on Dubai this week. I’ve been here over a week now to get ready for it, the family are here, we’ve had a bit of R&R in between, so it’s all good.

All I need now is one last push and to go out there and to try to do my best on a course I’ve had some good results at over the years. When looked at the schedule after my Open Championship win, I knew I needed to be rested going into this week.

I finished second to Jon Rahm here in 2017, have posted a couple more Top 10s and shot a 63 in the final round a couple of years ago. It’s a course that I like and have good memories of and it’s always great to be playing big tournaments especially on the European Tour.

I’m just looking forward to putting the head down, giving it my best shot and hopefully ending what’s already been an incredible season on a high.