Words Daragh Small
The average age of the winner since Apollo 11 landed on the moon was 32.4, the average ranking of the winners since the inception of the Official World Golf Ranking was 33.
Shane Lowry was 32.4 years old and his World Ranking was 33 as he took a six-shot lead into the 72nd hole of the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush on 21 July 2019.
The Clara man hit an iron off the 18th tee leaving 183 yards to the pin, his approach finished on the fringe before he raised his arms to the acclaim of the home crowd, who engulfed the fairway behind him.
And shortly after 6pm, two putts made him The Open champion – a victory written in the stars.
“18 on Sunday is the obvious one but I’ll go back to Saturday night and birdieing three of the last four holes to take a four-shot lead,” said Lowry.
“Just the scenes going down 18 and in the scoring afterwards, it was almost like it was the Sunday evening. The crowd was incredible, they were singing, I was doing my interviews out the back and they were all trying to jump the fence.
“Martin Slumbers actually said it in an interview, where it was one of the memories that he will cherish forever from The Open, it was one of the coolest things that’s ever happened me.
“It wasn’t like golf, it was something different, it was amazing.”
PRESSURE
This week brings with it piles of nostalgia, the memories of that great win and the subsequent rise, which saw Lowry take his place inside the Top 10 in the World Rankings for the first time in his career earlier this year.
Lowry isn’t the reigning Open champion but his phenomenal feat from six years ago, and the return of the great championship to the island of Ireland, has left him front and centre in the media.
And while the golfing world has moved on from those fleeting moments and the win that reverberated around the globe, it will always have a profound place in his heart.
“Over the couple of years that proceeded it, you do find yourself flicking on to YouTube and that’s what’s great about the modern world, you have that at your fingertips just being able to go on and watch it,” said Lowry.
“There has been a few lows since then that to try and pick yourself up, I would have went back and watched it at times but it all happened so fast you sort of forget it.
“To be able to have those videos to go back and look at as I get older it will even get better.”
Lowry has been supremely consistent on the PGA Tour this year, he finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, before backing that up with a seventh-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a T8 in the Valspar Championship and T2 at the Truist Championship.
However, the Majors are the gold standard and having finished sixth in last year’s Open at Royal Troon, Lowry is back at a tournament and a venue where he thrives.
“For years it didn’t bring out the best in me, it brought out the worst and I had a bad record in The Open up until Portrush,” said Lowry.
“I don’t know I just love the big events, it’s not just The Open it’s the other Majors, it’s the big events, it’s what I practice for, it’s the reason I wake up in the morning and the reason I am still going.
“I do love my job and travelling the world competing but the main reason I still do it is to get the feeling of being in contention on Major Sunday and I had that last year in Troon.
“The main goal at the start of every year for me is to try and give myself one or two chances to win a Major and hopefully I can be lucky enough someday to get over the line again.”
The Open isn’t just four days anymore either, it’s a week long experience and that began on Monday for Lowry when he spoke to the assembled media at the press conference.
He is box office this week but everything will come to a head on Thursday when he tees it up for the first time competitively at Royal Portrush, since he hit an iron off the 72nd tee box in 2019.
“It will be emotional; nerve wracking, it will be all of the above,” said Lowry.
“It is a weird one because it has been so long since I won it and then you are going back to the venue that you won at and the fact that it is in Ireland and in Royal Portrush and how I won it.
“It will be an interesting experience but one I am looking forward to.”
Winning a Major on the island of Ireland was extra special in 2019 and it provided the opportunity for Lowry to celebrate alongside his friends, family and all of the players that helped him reach the pinnacle of his career.
As always his father Brendan was alongside but his mother Bridget also made the journey up on the Sunday morning.
Lowry’s team were all present around 18 as the joyous scenes erupted while the likes of Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell and Gary Murphy were also on hand to join in on the celebrations.
“It’s my biggest win ever, I always said I was never going to top Baltray but little did I know I was going to do what I did in Portrush,” said Lowry.
“2019 was ten years since I won in Baltray and I remember doing a ten-year anniversary video for it and I was saying no matter what happens the rest of my career Baltray will be my biggest win ever.
“But then I went ahead that summer and did that so without doubt the biggest win of my career and will probably stay that way. I’d be very open and honest that it’s probably the pinnacle of my career.
“No matter what I do from here, unless I was to repeat it, and even at that nothing is as good as the first time, so I feel like that could be the pinnacle of my career.
“I’m also very driven and focused on achieving other goals and milestones so even though I’ve probably passed the pinnacle of my career I am quite comfortable in that.
“I am quite happy with going forward and trying to pursue and achieve some other things.”
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