Lowry finishes job
Needs no luck of the Irish
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The outcome was obvious to just about everyone but Shane Lowry.
A year ago, he sat in the parking lot at Carnoustie and cried after missing the cut in the British Open for the fourth straight year. Even with a 4-shot lead yesterday at Royal Portrush, in wind and rain, Lowry kept telling his caddie he was nervous, worried he would ruin a storybook ending to the first Open here in Northern Ireland in 68 years.
“I suppose I didn’t even know going out this morning if I was good enough to win a major,” Lowry said. “And look, I’m here now, a major champion. I can’t believe I’m saying it, to be honest.”
The 32-year-old Irishman marks his golf ball with a green shamrock. This had nothing to do with luck.
With stout nerves and a soft touch around the greens, Lowry gave a sellout crowd what it wanted to see. He endured the worst weather of the week, held up under Sunday pressure and expectations of fans who cheered his every step, and won the Open by 6 shots.
All he could think about was that walk up the final hole, and it was everything he imagined.
Even as the rain stopped, the tears began flowing.
“I can’t believe this is me standing here,” Lowry said has he cradled the silver claret jug. “I can’t believe this is mine.”
Lowry closed with a 1-over-par 72, the first time since 1996 the Open champion was over par in the final round, and it was no less impressive. More difficult than the rain was wind strong enough to break an umbrella. Lowry made four bogeys in the toughest stretch of Royal Portrush without losing ground.
No one from the last 12 groups broke par. No one got closer than 3 all day.
“It was Shane’s time, Shane’s tournament,” said Tommy Fleetwood, who closed with a 74 to finish runner-up for the second time in a major.
Thousands of fans who filled these links off the North Atlantic began to celebrate when Lowry rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt at 15 to stretch his lead to 6 with three holes to play.
His smile got wider with every hole coming in. The cheers got louder.
When his approach to the 18th was just on the fringe, he stretched out his arms and hugged caddie Bo Martin, whom Lowry had leaned on with brutal honesty.
“He was great at keeping me in the moment,” Lowry said. “I kept telling him how nervous I was, how scared I was, how I didn’t want to mess it up. All I could think about was walking down 18 with a 4- or 5-shot lead, and lucky I got to do that.”
The loudest roar of a raucous week was for a tap-in par that made Lowry a major champion.
“He’s done brilliantly,” Lee Westwood said after grinding out a 73 to tie for fourth. “All the chasers would have wanted tough conditions and he’s clearly played brilliantly to be on the score he has, under the pressure.”
Tony Finau shot 71 to finish alone in third, though he was never closer than 7 shots. Brooks Koepka, going for his fourth major in the past seven, began the final round 7 shots behind and opened with four straight bogeys. He shot 74 and tied for fourth.
Royal Portrush last hosted the British Open in 1951, the only time it had been outside Scotland and England. It pinned hopes at the start of the week on Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut by one shot. It celebrated Darren Clarke hitting the first tee shot Thursday. The other Ulsterman, Portrush native Graeme McDowell, basked in the loudest cheers he has heard this side of the Ryder Cup when he walked up the 18th green on yesterday.
And then along came Lowry, who teamed with McIlroy to bring Irish golf a European Amateur title in 2007, and who won the Irish Open as an amateur 10 years ago. He joins Padraig Harrington as Irishmen to win majors, while McIlroy, McDowell, Clarke and Fred Daly are major champions from Northern Ireland.
Lowry finished at 15-under 269 and earned $1.935 million for the victory.
He shared his greatest moment with his family who paved the way, the players who inspired and encouraged him through the lows. And after he was introduced as “champion golfer of the year,” he shared it with thousands of people he didn’t even know, all of them crammed along the hillocks and swales, along the edge of the ocean, and who sat in the horseshoe-shaped grandstands on the 18th under umbrellas waiting for the Irishman to arrive.
Holding up the claret jug, Lowry said to them, “This one’s for you.”