IRELAND’S LOWRY STORMS TO OPEN VICTORY
Fans salute a new all-Ireland hero as Lowry captures a first Major title in great style
THE GOLF was ragged, even downright ugly at times, in the filthy weather but there was a poetic beauty to Shane Lowry’s Royal Portrush triumph as he proved the man for all seasons yesterday.
The Open’s return to these parts after a 68-year intermission delivered a fitting champion – the fifth from the island of Ireland – amid remarkable scenes after a final-round procession.
With the crowd swarming on to the fairway behind him, Lowry arrived as a conquering king at the 18th green to choruses of ‘Shane-o’ and ‘Ole, Ole, Ole’.
As the last putt dropped he embraced his Belfast caddie Bo Martin, his wife Wendy, his little girl Iris and his parents before sharing an especially long cuddle with the playing partner he saw off in the day’s last group, Tommy Fleetwood.
It ended with more of a squelch than a bang as the rain thundered down on the static caravan roofs, and the wind turbines on the surrounding hills spun crazily.
But, for the man from
County Offaly, it was water off a duck’s back.
The Irish know how to play in rain and wind – the Emerald Isle is not green by accident – and with a four-shot cushion to defend in the final round, Lowry kept the rest of the floundering challengers at bay with ease to close out his first Major victory.
Three years ago, he was presented with the same scenario at the US Open and his nerve failed him. Yesterday, willed on by the sodden spectators, he was well and truly up to the challenge.
There was an early wobble following a bogey at the first hole when he nervously hooked his drive into the left rough and then found a greenside bunker.
If Fleetwood had been able to take a presentable birdie chance, Lowry’s overnight lead would have been halved, but the
Englishman could not take the opportunity. It was the story of his day.
He was playing against a nation
– two really. The
Irish tricolours dotted around the course reflected the support from the south, but golf in
Ireland melts the border and the northern locals were right behind Lowry too.
The galleries were respectful to Fleetwood, although there was no doubt where their loyalties lay. When he missed a short putt to bogey the third, there was an audible cry of ‘yes’ among the gasps.
The rapturous standing ovations for Lowry, 32, which had begun at the first hole, rippled round the course as he continued his march to glory. Birdies at the fourth, fifth and seventh drew raucous cries of
‘Go on Shane-o’ and, more locally, ‘For Offaly’. When Fleetwood drilled his approach at the seventh into a bunker, his shoulders visibly drooped.
“Oh Tommy,” he admonished himself.
Unable to apply any pressure on his playing partner, Fleetwood gave Lowry the space to play risk-free golf in stark contrast to his 63 on Saturday. But on a day like yesterday, that was a real blessing.
Lowry’s umbrella, which tore on its initial opening, had to be replaced during the round. He dropped shots at eight and nine, when the weather was at its most foul, before he steadied the ship with a 4ft par putt at the 10th which proved doubly valuable as Fleetwood bogeyed from short range.
On an afternoon when par was perfection, there was another important save by Lowry from a bunker at the short 13th hole.
It was a match-play situation and when Fleetwood overcooked his chip from the rough and double-bogeyed the 14th, Lowry led by five with four to play.
A birdie at the 15th after an approach to five feet brought a punch of the air. He was almost home.
With a six-shot lead they were already engraving the trophy as he made his way to the 17th tee. To be truthful, they could have done so hours earlier.
The 18th was a wild joy ride as he soaked up the sounds and sights of the greatest walk of his life.
For a long time Lowry was not even the most famous sportsman in his own household – his father Brendan, inset, was an all-Ireland Gaelic football champion. Last night ‘Shane-o’ became an all-Ireland hero.