The 148th Open: How Shane Lowry became the toast of Portrush with his major breakthrough in 2019

Shane Lowry produced the performance of his life to be crowned Champion Golfer of the Year at The 148th Open in a historic week for golf at Royal Portrush.

The oldest and most prestigious event in the sport returned to the fabled links on the coast of Northern Ireland for the first time since 1951, a year which also yielded a first-time winner in Max Faulkner.

The long absence merely heightened anticipation ahead of a Championship which proved to be a resounding success, with the local community embracing such an occasion and creating one of the best atmospheres ever experienced in professional golf.

And while Lowry was the star of the show, storming to a six-shot victory set up by an outstanding 63 in the third round, the course itself was also a headline act.

Sky Sports lead commentator Ewen Murray perhaps summed it up best, insisting the Royal Portrush course had “taken The Open to a new level”.

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And what made it so special?

“Probably 68 years of not being here,” said Murray. “In a small country where there are more sheep than people (1.8m residents), Northern Ireland can bask in the glory of an outstanding achievement and they delivered one of the best Opens in modern times.

“Some of that was down to the majestic Links of Dunluce. A course so few of the competitors knew, but one the world of golf has now been introduced to. A classic Open test, presented superbly, asking all the relevant questions of a golfer worthy of such a prestigious title.

“The fact an Isle of Ireland native prevailed, added to a legendary week. The coastline of this enchanting corner of Northern Ireland will forever be remembered for a fairytale ending to the greatest championship in golf.”

Some 237,000 spectators made their way through the gates to witness Lowry’s crowning glory at the end of a week that started with huge expectations for local hero, Rory McIlroy.

Unfortunately, those lofty expectations were tempered after the 2014 Open champion stumbled out of the blocks on Thursday morning, tugging his first tee shot out of bounds en route to a quadruple-bogey eight.

That disastrous opening hole set the tone for a 79 and left him facing an uphill battle just to be around for the weekend, and it was a battle in which he came agonisingly close to winning as he shaved 14 shots off his first-round score.

Unfortunately, McIlroy was one shy of surviving the cut, but he gave the sell-out crowd their money’s worth on day two as he defied the cool and damp conditions to card seven birdies and just one bogey which ultimately cost him the chance to play the weekend.

“Disappointed not to be here for the weekend, but unbelievably proud of how I handled myself today, coming back after what was a very challenging day yesterday,” said an emotional McIlroy afterwards.

“I’m just full of gratitude towards every single one of the people that followed me to the very end and was willing me on. As much as I came here at the start of the week saying I wanted to do it for me, by the end of the round there today I was doing it just as much for them as I was for me.”

With golf’s biggest drawcards, McIlroy and Tiger Woods, both missing the cut, it was left to Lowry to carry the home hopes over what proved to be a sensational weekend of golf, with Lowry providing the majority of the sensation.

Back-to-back 67s had given the Irishman a share of the halfway lead with JB Holmes on eight under, but Lowry was a class apart on day three and his course-record 63 lifted him four shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood by the end of the day.

“That’s the most incredible day I’ve ever had on a golf course,” said Lowry, although he had been in this position in a major before, having taken a four-stroke advantage into the final round of the US Open at Oakmont in 2016.

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That Sunday in Pennsylvania was a tough experience for Lowry as he struggled to keep pace with the brilliance of Dustin Johnson, who landed his first major with a 69 that would have been a shot better had he not been hit with a controversial penalty when he was deemed to have caused his ball to move before he hit his putt on the fifth green.

Lowry’s form dipped alarmingly after his US Open disappointment and he did not manage another top-10 finish until the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, 11 months later.

He breached the top 10 only twice in 2018 and ended the year ranked 75th in the world, but he began 2019 in encouraging fashion as he outplayed a high-quality field to win in Abu Dhabi, his first piece of silverware in three-and-a-half years.

Memories of that final day at Oakmont would have been hard to banish as he stood on the first tee on Sunday afternoon at Portrush, and alarm bells rang when he scrapped his way up the opening hole and was lining up a tricky six-foot putt for bogey, with Fleetwood standing over a makeable birdie chance.

Fleetwood missed, Lowry made, and while his lead had been reduced to three shots, the confidence he gained from rattling in that bogey putt was abundantly clear. And he was helped in no small measure by Fleetwood having “one of those days” on the greens.

Lowry picked up three shots in four holes to extend his lead to six just as the worst weather of the week rolled in, and keeping his composure after three dropped shots was just a tough a task as caddie, Beau, had in keeping his player’s equipment dry.

Those three bogeys were fairly insignificant as the elements prevented any of his main rivals from mounting a genuine challenge, and a victory procession was almost inevitable once the skies had cleared down the stretch.

It was an incredible turnaround in fortunes for the 32-year-old, as he revealed he had been reduced to tears in the car park a year earlier at Carnoustie having missed the halfway cut after rounds of 74 and 73.

“Carnoustie, look, that just shows how fickle golf is,” said Lowry. “Golf is a weird sport and you never know what’s around the corner. That’s why you need to remind yourself, and you need other people there to remind you, that you need to fight through the bad times.

“I sat in the car park in Carnoustie on Thursday, almost a year ago right to this week, and I cried. Golf wasn’t my friend at the time. It was something that became very stressful and it was weighing on me and I just didn’t like doing it. What a difference a year makes, I suppose.”

But, as Lowry surveyed the famous Claret Jug and the legends of golf that had their names etched on the trophy ahead of him, he would have had no idea that he would be holding onto the trophy for an extra year.

After the cancellation of The 149th Open due to the coronavirus pandemic, Lowry finally gets to defend his title at Royal St George’s this week.

Can he go back-to-back? Don’t rule it out.

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