Caddie shock: Lowry needs help to believe

Apprehensive Irishman, uplifted by bagman, claims British Open

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — The outcome was never in doubt 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 four-shot lead Sunday at Royal Portrush, in a raging wind and pouring rain, Lowry kept telling his caddie he was nervous and scared, worried that he would ruin a storybook ending to the first Open 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 Players with local ties:

Diego. Springfield — the defending WTT champion Springfield Lasers.

Bryan corrected himself. He said the Rollers would be playing Springfield at 7 p.m.

No, he was told again — 4 p.m. Not 7. Everybody chuckled.

Mike Bryan’s mind wasn’t focused on World Teamtennis at that moment. But five years ago when it mattered most to one of the Las Vegas tennis kids, his heart and brother Bob’s were in the right place when what seemed a small act of kindness provided soul-healing light.

Video connection

“They literally helped save my life,” said a young girl wearing a navy Team Bryan blazer.

Cherrial Odell was beaming. It was a far cry from when she was coiled in a fetal position in a mental hospital with suicidal thoughts and tendencies. She had blamed herself for her father’s alcoholism and her family’s financial plight and sank into a deep depression.

“Her father came out and said, ‘You go talk to her.’ So I knew it was bad,” Wolfington said.

“She was nonresponsive.”

Wolfington brought video greetings from the Bryan brothers and Adam Sandler and Kevin James — his brother, Sean, had a working relationship with the actors.

“Hey Cherrial, how are you doing, we’re rooting for you,” Wolfington said of what Sadler and James, two of her favorite actors, said on the messages. The musically inclined Bryan brothers wrote her a song at the Australian Open.

“When I played those videos, she went from misery to smiling.”

“They see the kids multiple times a year,” Wolfington said of the Bryans’ generosity and humanity. “They text them, they call them. There’s no greater high in life than to invest in a human life. Bob and Mike Bryan know that, Jewell (the singer also became involved through her Never Broken program) knows that, I know that. That is why we do it.”

After the clinic, the brothers postponed taking a shower to talk about the courage of Cherrial Odell and her remarkable turnaround.

Emotional rescue

“Her story is a really special part of our life,” Bob said. “We helped her out of a dark time, at least a small part of it. To see her flourish in this program under Ryan Wolfington is amazing.”

Added twin brother Mike: “With Cherrial, she was at the low of lows. She almost took her life, and Bob wrote her a song. We left a couple of video messages for her and it made a difference. She turned it around full circle.”

Cherrial Odell still gets emotional when she talks about the Bryan brothers and the others who provided an emotional life preserver during her darkest hour.

“To have someone so successful be so kind, so caring and so loving and generous