It was a fairy-tale come true at the Open Championship as Shane Lowry lifted the Claret Jug, in his home country, surrounded by a jubilant crowd.
The win was seen as arguably one of the most popular Open victories as the whole crowdcheered on the talented Irishman against the howling wind and rain to a six-shot victory.
As others battled with the elements and difficult course, Lowry used the wind to his advantage by hitting low shots to drive the ball further and faster.
Playing partner Tommy Fleetwood was the one who came closest to challenging the leader but couldn’t come any closer than a three-shot gap.
The Open’s revisit to Portrush was a record-breaking success, selling out of tickets and providing dramatic twists all weekend.
Lowry didn’t start as the level-headed confident man he ended the tournament as however. He bogeyed the first hole and dropped three shots over four holes, but there was not one golfer on the course who wasn’t struggling against the tide of the rain and wind.
Fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy was unfortunate to miss the cut by a stroke, despite his efforts to come back from a frustrating first round, which included a quadruple-bogey at the first hole.
Englishman Lee Westwood had one of the most erratic rounds of the weekends as he finished on six under, earning him a place at next year’s Masters. It therefore continued his drought of a major win as he was tipped to challenge the Open this year. Westwood tied fourth with world number one Brooks Koepka who also toiled against the wild weather.
The engraver was already etching Shane’s name on the trophy, as he teared up the 18th hole, to the cheers of adulation and praise from the thousands of people who watched on.
Lowry finally responded to the emotion, having stayed eerily calm throughout the last round and clutched his chest in pride, clinging to his caddie Bo Martin for support.
It would’ve been too good to be true for the birdie putt to be a reality, but a tap in for par secured the win for Shane, and a hefty cash prize of £1.56 million.
This was Lowry’s biggest major win of his decade-long professional career, and there couldn’t have been a more fitting place to win it, in his home country surrounded by his adoring fans.
After all every cloud has a silver lining, or in this case a golden one.
Next year’s Open Championship is making its return to the south east of England, to Royal St George’s in Kent. It will mark the 149thrun of the competition and the 15thtime it has been held at the historic links course.
Photo Creds – @TheOpen on Twitter
