LOWRY BRUSH WITH HISTORY
Irishman aiming to be perfect ten
It was back in 2005 that Britain’s leading golf coach Pete Cowen was called in by the Golf Union of Ireland to work with some of their finest prospects. As ever, it didn’t take him long to deliver a prescient judgement.
‘the good news is you’ve definitely got two real talents,’ the Yorkshireman told them. ‘You’ve got Rory, and you’ve got the fat kid with the glasses.’
Well, we all know what happened to Rory McIlroy. And the fat kid with the glasses?
Well, the glasses have gone as has most of the fat, and yesterday afternoon he just happened to be leading by four strokes heading into the final round of the United States Open.
What is it with Irish golfers from the north and south and the majors these days? Nine majors in ten years is the sort of record to cause a golfing powerhouse such as South Africa (population 54 million) or Australia (24 million) to swell with pride.
Now here was Shane Lowry trying to add his name to the astonishing list of Irish winners over the last decade and complete the perfect ten.
to put that record in perspective, South Africa has won four and Australia two over the same period.
So no wonder so many of the 6.4 million citizens who live in the Emerald Isle found a television set showing the tournament last night, packing out golf clubs and social clubs to see if the 29-yearold from Offaly could pull it off.
Lowry was trying to achieve a piece of history of his own, for while Graeme McDowell and McIlroy from Northern Ireland have won the season’s second major, no-one from the Republic has ever claimed the crown.
After he finished his third round on Sunday morning, putting the finishing touches to a brilliant 65, Lowry admitted he had thought about winning. ‘In the quiet moments when you’re going round the course, it’s very hard not to imagine standing there with the trophy,’ he said.
Lowry only took up the game properly at the age of 15. Before that, he would play at the local pitch and putt, which may help to explain the imaginative game he has around the greens.
there’s a lovely story of his first pitch and putt outing when his mum, who had no clue about golf, stuck his football boots by the door for him to wear.
His dad Brendan was a notable Gaelic footballer, playing in an Offaly side who once did a Leicester City, humbling a Kerry team trying to win the All-Ireland for a fifth year in a row in the most famous final of all in 1982.
Brendan was here yesterday to see if his son could pull off his own success against the odds, for he was a 100-1 shot at the start of the tournament.
Oddly enough, Lowry began with the same world ranking — 41 — as Angel Cabrera when he won the US Open at Oakmont in 2007.
In his rear-view mirror, Lowry had only players who had also not won majors.
they included American Dustin Johnson at four adrift and the best player currently playing the game not to win one — Lee Westwood.
Now 43, the Englishman was five adrift but, in his 73rd major, had certainly not given up hope of finally getting over the finish line and going one better than his runner-up placing at the Masters in April.
that was Westwood’s ninth topthree finsh, the most by any player in the game’s history without a win.
Speaking of the Masters, the putter with which Danny Willett claimed the green jacket in April now lies in two pieces after the Englishman broke it in frustration following a three-putt bogey on Saturday.
Willett used a replacement to good effect in a final-round 71 yesterday and reflected: ‘It had been misbehaving all week and I will not be using it again. to be fair, I used more than one club to win the Masters but I will be keeping it. I’ll get it refurbished and put it in a nice place in the house.’
Defending champion Jordan Spieth four-putted the sixth for a triple bogey. By contrast, young American Brooks Koepka put together an incredible run of golf from the fourth that saw him pick up no fewer than eight strokes to par in eight holes.
Still seven behind Lowry on level par, he was threatening to post the first 62 in a major. It all added up to evidence, if needed, that Lowry’s four-shot lead was merely a healthy advantage, nothing more.
“He only took up the game properly at the age of 15”