LOWRY KEEPS CALM AMID THE PORTRUSH MAELSTROM
Champion Shane adds his name to pantheon of Irish golfing greats
IRISH golf has known some great days over the last dozen years but there’s never been one quite like this. Cheered on by his indefatigable army, Shane Lowry sent a united Ireland into rapture with an Open victory that applied the perfect ending to the glorious return to the rota of Royal Portrush.
This was one of those sporting tales they will talk about in pubs for years to come and pass on to future generations. The Irish have always had a passion for golf but after this they’ll probably be making it compulsory in schools.
Fred Daly, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington. These are the three men from the north and one from the south whose names are on the Claret Jug. The revered souls who the 32-year-old from the small county of Offaly will now join in the pantheon of Irish sporting royalty.
Lowry’s father Brendan was a noted Gaelic footballer and won an All Ireland medal. Now his son has added a gold medal to the lustrous family collection.
Goodness it wasn’t as easy as the six-stroke margin of victory over Tommy Fleetwood might suggest. How could it be with so many fans living and breathing every shot? With the wind and rain that came in such torrid waves it recalled the day a Japanese visitor once idly wondered why they never thought to hold the Open in the summer.
Three of the four strokes with which Lowry led overnight could have been lost on the very first hole. But he survived the tempest that descended on the links and the maelstrom of emotions between his ears for a richly deserved triumph.
Lowry finished with a 72, while Fleetwood (below) closed with a 74 and American Tony Finau shot 71 for third place. Joint fourth went to Brooks Koepka — just the 2-1-2-4 for the four Grand Slams this year, then — and veteran Lee Westwood, whose heart-warming performance earned him a place at the Masters next year. Portrush oracle Clarke told
Sportsmail readers last Tuesday about what a scary hole the first would be if the wind blew. Here the slim hopes of Rickie Fowler and Jon Rahm disappeared before Lowry had even made it to the tee. The American went out of bounds
while the Spaniard took two from a bunker.
Soon they were joined on the casualty list by third-placed JB Holmes, who also went out of bounds on his way to a round of 87 strokes. Yes, 87. We were down to two possible winners.
Lowry was clearly nervous on the first tee. How could he not be? He’d had a four- shot lead before in a major and lost, at the 2016 US Open.
He also found himself thinking about what happened when he won the 2008 North of Ireland Amateur event here. ‘ My opponent shanked his first tee shot out of bounds!’ he said.
Thankfully, he didn’t suffer the same fate but after pulling his tee shot, his second struck the face of one of the formidable greenside bunkers and he could only play out to 40ft.
Fleetwood, meanwhile, played two wonderful blows to 10ft. Lowry putted up just inside him.
Suddenly we had one of those classic matchplay scenarios that underline why four shots is a dangerous lead. If Fleetwood had holed and Lowry missed, the lead was down to a stroke, but the opposite happened. ‘That settled me,’ said Lowry.
Over those opening holes, Fleetwood had the chance to apply some pressure but the putts wouldn’t fall. It would be the story of the day. Every time an opening appeared, the 28-year-old Englishman grasped in vain for the moment that would turn the screw. This was new territory for Fleetwood.
He had never been in the final group of a major before, and what a way to start, with so many in the gallery pulling for the other man and the difficulties compounded by the weather. He’ll be disappointed but it will all be useful ammunition for the future.
With 12 holes to go, Lowry stretched his lead to six but successive bogeys as the rain turned biblical kept the result in doubt.
At the par-five 12th, Fleetwood pulled out two shots from the top drawer. Again, there was a possibility of a three-shot swing, with Lowry 40ft away in three and Fleetwood a third of that distance in two.
Once more, Lowry restricted the loss to a single stroke. It was as close as Fleetwood would get. At the 14th he ran up a fatal double bogey.
Thankfully, Fleetwood gathered himself. It would have been harsh indeed if he hadn’t followed up his runner-up finish in the US Open last year with another.
For Lowry, it meant he could play the dangerous last trio of holes in comfort. Suddenly, a nation started breathing again and the chants of ‘Ole, ole’ began. ‘I’d really started to enjoy it by then,’ said Lowry.
It’s been an incredible run for Irish golf since Harrington set the ball rolling with his victory in the 2007 Open at Carnoustie.
This was the 10th major title won by an Irish golfer in the last 12 years and two of the contributors — Harrington and Graeme McDowell — had tears in their eyes behind the 18th green.
For seven hours, the hardy fans waited patiently in the stands and what an ovation they gave Lowry as he emerged from the crowd on the fairway. Ten years ago, there were similar scenes when he won the Irish Open in the rain as a 22-year-old amateur.
It’s not been an easy road since to deliver on all that promise. It rarely is. In January, Lowry turned up in Abu Dhabi with no exemptions to play in the big events. His victory in that tournament, his first for four years, changed everything. A year at the majors that began with one perfect storyline in Tiger Woods’s victory at Augus t a had ended with another and the most passionate moment yet in Ireland’s golf
love affair.