The Open: Shane Lowry’s Royal Portrush triumph immortalised following ‘dream’ 2019 win

The Open returns to Royal Portrush this week, six years on from Shane Lowry’s gorgeous 2019 triumph in entrance of document crowds – as he managed to upstage his nice mate Rory McIlroy.

On the admittedly much-changed course that McIlroy posted a document rating on as a 16-year-old newbie in 2005, his homecoming in 2019 was a tough one which resulted in tears as he agonisingly missed the minimize by one, following up a disastrous opening 79 that included a quadruple-bogey eight on the first with a stirring 65 that wasn’t fairly sufficient.

Lowry’s week, contrastingly, was a triumphant one, the Irishman rising from McIlroy’s shadow to clinch a six-stroke victory over Tommy Fleetwood in entrance of some 237,000 spectators who made their approach via the gates to witness his crowning second.

Six years on from Lowry’s ‘dream’ Portrush run

“Doing something like that is a lifelong dream,” Lowry mirrored this week.

“You can’t look at that in anything other than a positive way. If you look at it any other way, you’re in the wrong game.”

With The Open having returned to Royal Portrush for the primary time since 1951, back-to-back 67s had given Lowry a share of the midway lead with JB Holmes on eight beneath, earlier than he stormed clear with a course-record 63 on the Saturday that had him 4 photographs up on Fleetwood in second going into the ultimate day.

On the time, Lowry turned the twelfth participant since 2000 to be main in a significant by 4 or extra strokes on the 54-hole mark, with solely three of them failing to go on and win – together with himself on the 2016 US Open at Oakmont.

Lowry had two top-10 finishes to his identify prior – on the 2014 PGA Championship and 2015 US Open – however Oakmont was his first tangible alternative for main glory and it noticed him blow his four-shot benefit by the tip of his entrance 9, Dustin Johnson in the end rising victorious.

Alarm bells, due to this fact, will need to have been ringing when on Sunday at Portrush, Lowry left himself a tough six-foot putt for bogey on the first and Fleetwood stood over a makeable birdie probability.

However as a substitute of a possible three-stroke swing after the opening gap, Lowry holed his putt as Fleetwood missed, the one dropped shot nearly handled as successful for the Irishman, who proceeded to stretch his result in six when birdieing three in a four-hole span from the fourth.

Three bogeys in 4 adopted around the flip because the worst of the climate rolled in, however the components additionally wreaked havoc on his principal rivals and he maintained a commanding sufficient cushion to benefit from the memorable celebrations of the partisan crowd down the closing stretch.

Lowry prepared for Portrush return: I am higher than in 2019

Lowry now takes on the function of a much-celebrated returning champion this week, a mural having been painted of him on a home in Portrush.

“I didn’t know what to make of it at the start – and everyone that comes up here keeps sending me pictures standing beside it,” Lowry stated, earlier than joking: “I can’t say what some of them were doing [in the photos]. But it is very special.”

Lowry added: “It’s amazing to be back. We’ve only had five Opens since the last here in Portrush, which just goes to show what the R&A and the organisers think of this venue.

“Clearly I am somewhat bit biased, however I feel it is probably the greatest venues.

“There’s a lot of memories and there’s a lot of thinking back to what I did. What I did was very special; to walk down the 18th hole with a six-shot lead, I’m probably never going to do that again, so I’m not going to try and replicate that.

“It would not give me any God-given proper to do something particular this week. I simply have to get my head down on Thursday morning, get after it and see what occurs.”

Lowry’s recreation is in comparatively good order, having pushed himself into the world’s prime 10 earlier this 12 months (at present 18th), with second-placed finishes on the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am – dropping out to McIlroy – and the Truist Championship, albeit that could be a supply of frustration to the 38-year-old together with latest missed cuts on the PGA Championship and US Open.

“I kind of pride myself on not missing cuts, especially in the big events,” Lowry stated. “I feel like I can always get myself there or thereabouts and I have done over the last number of years.

“I have been persistently fairly good this 12 months. I’ve given myself a few probabilities to win, which I am very upset that I did not, however we have got a couple of months left to form of redeem myself and get a win on the board.”

He added: “I’ve nonetheless bought sure issues that I might like to attain within the recreation, and I am working very exhausting at that.

“I’m a better golfer than I was in 2019, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and win by seven this year instead of six. It’s just golf; that’s the way it is.”

Masters champion McIlroy set for second homecoming

‘A greater golfer’ and a much-celebrated champion, however as Lowry returns to the scene of his 2019 triumph, he does so with the spectre of one other McIlroy homecoming additionally looming giant – now with the profession Grand Slam to his identify.

Lowry admitted to blended emotions for his buddy’s crowning triumph at The Masters earlier this 12 months, saying afterwards: “Honestly, it was the weirdest day ever for me.”

He had been prickly with the media after his third spherical, back-to-back bogeys at 17 and 18 seeing him slip seven off the tempo set by McIlroy, who he wasn’t ready to entertain questions over.

“I’m not going to stand here and talk about Rory for 10 minutes,” Lowry stated on the time. “I’m trying to win the tournament as well.”

Lowry’s Masters would end with an unsightly 81 on the Sunday as McIlroy ended his 11-year main drought and clinched the profession Grand Slam in spectacular style – and such is the pair’s bond that, even with the frustration of his final-round collapse, Lowry was the primary participant there to hug his buddy amid the celebrations.

“He’s done everything there is to do in the game,” Lowry stated of McIlroy on Monday. “He finished that in April. And his constant drive to get better every day is admirable.

“We have now grow to be fairly shut during the last variety of years, and I feel it is helped each of us.

“I think I help him but he helps me as well. I certainly feel like I’ve learned a lot from his work ethic and how I apply myself to the game now.”

Lowry and McIlroy definitely kind a formidable pair, be that when teaming as much as win the 2024 Zurich Traditional, starring in a Full Swing episode about stated success, when backing one another up in a Ryder Cup – even throughout a spat in a parking lot – or when headlining a homecoming at Portrush.

Whereas McIlroy should still take prime billing this week, and Lowry may even should subject a couple of questions on him, the concentration is going to rightly additionally shine on the 2019 champion this week.

“It is a big event for all us Irish people here this week,” Lowry stated. “It’s huge.

“I reckon that first tee that morning in 2019 was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been on the primary tee of a event. All you wish to do is get the ball down the green, and clearly Rory did not try this.

“All we want to do is give ourselves a chance come the weekend, and if you give yourself a chance, you never know what could happen and if you do something very special.”

How can I watch The Open stay on Sky Sports activities?

Sky Sports activities is as soon as once more the unique house of The Open, with stay protection from all seven days of event week from July 14-20 and round the clock protection of the ultimate males’s main of the 12 months.

There are seven hours of stay protection on the Monday and Tuesday follow days at Royal Portrush earlier than a bumper 9 hours of stay programming on Wednesday, beginning at 9am every morning.

Wall-to-wall protection of The Open then begins at 6.30am on Thursday July 17 on Sky Sports activities Golf, with stay motion out there for all 4 event days and a number of additional feeds additionally out there on Sky Sports activities+.

Who will win The Open? Watch the ultimate males’s main of the 12 months all through the week stay on Sky Sports activities. Stay protection of the opening spherical begins on Thursday from 6.30am on Sky Sports activities Golf. Stream The Open and extra prime sport with no contract.