Interview with PGA Tour's Justin Lower: Back from COVID 'bummer,' aims for colorful fall

Summer is going, going, almost gone, but it's go time for the area's top rooting interest on the PGA Tour.

After a month of chill time at his home near Akron-Canton Airport, Justin Lower heads into the PGA Tour's potentially career-making fall schedule. The next few months portend an edge-of-the-cup personal adventure for the former Northwest High School and Malone University champion.

He's back at it this week in the Fortinet Championship in Napa, California, site of his best Tour finish to date.

We caught up with Lower as he went back to work, aiming for more than just keeping his Tour card.Here are highlights of the interview.

ITEM: Lower is two months removed from a bout with COVID-19 that hit at the worst possible time. He was coming off an eighth-place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic with hopes of contending at a Quad Cities course where he won a national championship at Malone.

LOWER: I felt momentum building. Then I got to the Quad Cities Monday evening not feeling well at all. During practice Tuesday, it was very hot out. I played nine holes, hit some balls and called it a day.

I was supposed to play the pro-am Wednesday. It must have been 95 degrees. I hit maybe 20 balls at the range, looked at my caddy and said, I don't think I could get through today at all. I asked the rules official if I could be excused from the pro-am. If that happens, you can't use the facilities that day.

I saw an on-site doctor who prescribed a few things. I woke up from a nap at about 2 p.m. and had severe chills and severe dry heaving, unlike anything I had ever experienced. I tried to calm down, tried to take a shower, but I couldn't get anything going.

I went to the hospital and had a 102.6 fever. They gave me an IV and tested me for COVID. I tested positive. I didn't really panic. The doctors and nurses didn't put masks on or anything like that.

I contacted a player relations person with the Tour and asked what the COVID protocol was. They were very curious why I was asking that question. I told them I went to the hospital and tested positive. About two hours later a higher-up on the Tour said I couldn't compete that week.

It was a real bummer. My game was starting to feel really good.

It seemed like the year of setbacks a little bit, obviously not talking about the birth of my daughter, but on-course stuff that was hard to deal with.

ITEM: Lower scrapped plans to play in the Scottish Open and instead teed off in an alternative tournament in the USA, the Barbasol Championship, eight days after being diagnosed with COVID. That began a punishing 23-day stretch in which he made the cut in the Barbasol, missed the cut in the Barracduda Classic, made the cut in the 3M Open, and missed the cut in the Wyndham Championship.

His last round at the Wyndham was Aug. 8, meaning it will have been 40 days since his last Tour round when he tees off Thursday in California.

LOWER: I finished 42nd in the Barbasol, which wasn't great. I probably should have skipped the next event, at Tahoe. I missed the cut. I wasn't really listening to my body. I needed some rest. I should have taken that week off and gone fresh into the 3M and the Wyndham.

I made the cut in the 3M, which was OK, but I got to the Wyndham exhausted. The first round I was trying to grind it out and conditions were tough. Rain. Wind. I told my caddie, I really don't think I have anything today.

I tried, but I was too far out of it after the first round. The second day, I think I birdied six of the last 10 holes. It's always amazing how good you play when it really doesn't matter.

ITEM: After the Wyndham, Lower kicked back at home for a month. He was the guest star of an event at Lyons Den, his home course when he played for Northwest High School. He worked with one of his coaches, Mike Emery.

LOWER: It was nice to be home. I feel really good. My game feels really good. With four weeks off, I've been able to spend time with my little girl, spend time with my wife. I've been able to play some fun golf, playing some courses around home with friends.

I finally got the grasp of a swing. Not a change or anything. But something Mike Emery has been wanting me to do. I'm starting to see some cool results. I'm really looking forward to the fall.

ITEM: Justin's wife Janise delivered the couple's first child on Dec. 20; Arianna Lynn Lower weighed in a 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

LOWER: November was when it started to get a little more real. It became clearer my life was going to change a little bit. My wife's life was going to change a little bit. And it did, for sure.

We took Ari to 14 events this year. She's already a very seasoned traveler. The Arnold Palmer was kind of a cool first event for her, with the history. The Tour provides a day care. The people who run it are amazing.

It was pretty awesome to come off the golf course and have her right there. It's been nothing but a blessing. I think she's my best friend already.

ITEM: Lower, 34, fought for a decade to win a PGA Tour card and finally did so for the 2021-22 season. In the last event of the season, he needed par on the final hole to keep his card for 2022-23. He three-putted for bogey and agonized over finishing just outside the required top 125.

He got a reprieve when spots opened up and got his card back. He has put it to full use, playing 30 tournaments in the 2022-23 season, making 15 cuts, earning $1.23 million, ranking No. 103 in FedEx Cup points.

LOWER: The season has been OK overall. This calendar year didn't go as planned. I had some setbacks and what not. There was some good there for sure.

ITEM: A year ago at this time, the PGA Tour was just starting a new season with the Fortinet Championship, the stop in Napa, California. He blasted off with an opening-round 63 and had the lead after three rounds. He wound up tied for fourth place, a stroke ahead of Rickie Fowler.

LOWER: I grew from that event. The weather changed the setup of the last day. It was threesomes instead of twosomes. I was put in a tough situation, playing with the defending champion (Max Homa) and a major champion (Danny Willett) in the same group. And they were out for me. I was being chased. That's hard to deal with in golf sometimes.

I had nerves I'd never had before. I was a shot back with eight holes to go. I was right there.

ITEM: After the month in Ohio, Lower is in California, back at work. The Fortinet is not the start to a new season this time, as it was last September, since The Tour did some major reorganizing.

LOWER: The 2022-23 season's not over. They're using fall to determine status. They're going back to the calendar-year season starting in 2024. I have to maintain my position in the 125 or move into the top 50, which would be even better. That would obviously be very tough to do, but it's still possible.

There's still seven chances at a Masters exemption. I'm ready to go.

(Winning one of the seven fall tournaments would get Lower a spot in the 2024 Masters.)

ITEM: A month into the 2022-23 season, Lower ranked in the top 30 in the standings that determine Tour status.Starting with a November stop in Houston through a March tournament in the Dominican Republic, he missed nine cuts in 11 events. He rallied in the spring, making seven cuts in 11 stops, featuring a 25th place in the Canadian Open.

An eighth-place tournament in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, won by Fowler, boosted his confidence. Then COVID-19 reared its ugly head.

What is his way of keeping his mind right heading into the biggest autumn of his career?

LOWER: I work on it a lot. I've been in therapy for about four years. Focusing techniques. Trying to keep perspective, which, sometimes I'm very guilty of not keeping. I work on bettering myself as a human overall, trying to be the best husband I can be, the best dad I can be, the best golfer I can be.

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Justin Lower set to attack 2023 PGA Tour fall schedule