Portrush party

Should he win a second Open at Royal Portrush this week, Shane Lowry has promised the after-party will be twice as big.

But, to recall the iconic scenes that greeted him down the 18th fairway on that damp Sunday afternoon, plus the stories of late-night festivities and week-long celebrations, it is surely impossible for anything to come close to that ever again.

The significance of The 148th Open was already enough to make it one for the history books, as Northern Ireland threw open its doors to the sporting world to host golf’s original major for the first time in nearly seven decades.

But the crowning of a Champion from the island of Ireland on top was poetic.

The occasion, six years ago, would have overwhelmed many and watching his last round, six years on, Lowry’s ability to hold his nerve in the face of the immense pressure is admirable.

Even the end was far from simple.

As he stood on Royal Portrush’s 18th tee, with the wind in his face and the rain on his cap, Lowry puffed out his cheeks, addressed his ball and prepared to take the most important swing of his life.

And, on an island that has produced dozens of legendary boxers, perhaps the most important swing of them all.

With a six-shot lead, you would have thought there was never a chance he could lose.

But this was the 72nd and final hole of The Open – the stage where in previous years, leaders like Jean van de Velde went bare-foot into the Barry Burn to retrieve his soaking ball and Doug Sanders missed a putt to win from barely a foot. They both lost.

Nothing can be guaranteed at The Open.

The last hole at Royal Portrush is not for the faint-hearted, either, with out of bounds lurking down to the bottom of a dramatic run-off on the left.

But this was Lowry, this was 2019 and this was special.

He struck his tee shot so sweetly it cut through the wind and danced through the rain to end up in the heart of the fairway. And with that, the jeopardy was gone and the celebrations could begin.

The scenes that greeted him and caddie Bo Martin as they embarked on the Greatest Walk in Golf were biblical.

On the walk to the green, songs and chants were ringing out. The spectators were soaked wet through following a day of awful rain but no-one cared.

“I could not believe that was happening to me,” Lowry said at the time. “Twelve months previous I was lying in the car crying to myself after missing another cut.

"This feels like an out-of-body experience. I can't wait to wake up on Monday morning and find out what it's going to feel like then. It's just going to be incredible.”

When it came to it, you can bet he could not wait to wake up.

As his golf was so special, it was only right Lowry had a party to match.

He packed up the van and went to Dublin for a night on the town, with a posse of family, friends, celebrities and anyone else who was up for the craic.

Even his granny Emily got in on the fun.

“I haven't had a brandy since 2009 but I had two watching Shane," she told RTE. “It's nearly killed me.”

The next day, he went home, to Clara in County Offaly, and did it all again.

Six years on, The 148th Open remains Lowry’s sole major triumph, underlining how hard it is to win one of the game’s biggest prizes, but he has become a much more consistent golfer since.

His record in the majors this season – a tied-42nd and two missed cuts – doesn't suggest it, but Lowry believes he is in the form of his life. He has just been unable to win.

At the Masters in April, he was only three shots behind going into the weekend but a disappointing final round put paid to his chances. Meanwhile there have been two runner-up finishes and two further top-10s on the PGA Tour. 

“I know that's quite a while ago, and no matter what I did then, it doesn't give me any God-given right to do anything special this week,” he said.

“I just need to get my head down on Thursday morning and get after it and see what happens.

“Obviously the last two majors I missed cuts and I kind of pride myself on not missing cuts, especially in the big events.

“I feel like I can always get myself there or thereabouts in the big events and I have done over the last number of years.

“But I've been consistently quite good this year. I've given myself a couple of chances to win, which I'm very disappointed that I didn't, but we've got a few months left to kind of redeem myself and get a win on the board.

“No matter how well you're playing the season, if you don't have a win beside your name at least once, you don't really class it as being very good.

“I do feel like I played too much golf in the lead-up to the US Open. I played nine of 11 weeks, and I feel like that really got to me.

“When the going got tough, I wasn't there for it mentally, and that's my own fault.

“I've had a couple of weeks to kind of take a step back and put a decent bit of work in over the last sort of week and get ready for this week, and I do feel ready. I really do.”

Being back at the scene of his greatest triumph could go one of two ways. Six years have now passed and the result that week should be largely irrelevant.

But at The Open, history is important.

“I still don't know why it came together that week,” he said.

“There's no real answer. It just happened. I'm very lucky. But I would love to do it again.

“I feel like I'm a better golfer than I was in 2019.”