SHANE LOWRY LEFT HURT AND EMPTY IN HIS BID TO WIN THE OPEN FOR A SECOND TIME AS THE CLARET JUG SLIPS FROM THE GRASP OF THE LONG-TIME LEADER

• Shane Lowry admitted falling short at The Open 'hurt' after excellent showing
• The Irishman led heading into Saturday before his momentum began to wane
• Lowry ultimately finished sixth five shots behind winner Xander Schauffele 

It was the momentary pause after the question and the drop in tone in his answer that opened the window into Shane Lowry’s soul.

The past four days had mainly been joyous: crisp ball-striking, a short game full of ingenuity and putts that rolled towards holes as if they had been sent down tramlines. Had you only been dipping in and out of the action, each glimpse of Lowry would have left you thinking you had seen the champion.

Up close, it looked even better. Lowry might come across gruffly when he’s on the course but he’s not there to win a popularity contest — he’s there to win tournaments, and this was one that he believed was within his grasp. To not leave with it in his possession left him feeling hollow.

‘Honestly, I’m just…’ he hesitated. Lowry had finished on four under par — an excellent return on this most challenging of courses — but, on a TV screen close to his left shoulder, he caught sight of Xander Schauffele sprinting away from his rivals like a thoroughbred in the final furlong.

‘He just doesn’t hit many bad shots, does he?’ Lowry continued. ‘I went into the fourth round two shots back at the US PGA (in May). I felt like I shot a decent score then and I wasn’t anywhere near him. I feel like I played unbelievable golf all week. This hurts.’

There they were, the two little words that said so much. Lowry was Champion Golfer of the Year in 2019, winning the first Open on Irish soil for 68 years in breathtaking style, and he was convinced for long spells over the last week he would return there in 2025 as the defending champion.

That dream, however, was effectively washed away on Saturday afternoon. When a professional needs to take a driver to a 240-yard par three, you understand the level of difficulty and the bitter irony will not be lost on Lowry that his success in the opening 36 holes worked against him. Had he gone out a couple of hours earlier, there’s not a chance he would have posted a 77.

Lowry finished five shots behind Schauffele but he won’t have to think too hard about where the deficit could have been bridged. The emptiness, unsurprisingly, was all-consuming.

‘Saturday afternoon wasn’t a high point in my career,’ he sighed, rubbing a hand across his head to try to ease the pain. ‘Those nine holes, I’m probably going to rue them for a while, but it is what it is now. It was a tough evening. I sat around the club here for a while and went home pretty late.

‘I had some dinner, had some good chats with the people that are in my house. I just wanted to go out and give myself a chance. I promised Neil (Manchip, his coach) that I’d go out and fight for every shot, and that’s what I did today. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough, and it’s very disappointing.

‘There’s no two ways about it. I had a great chance of winning this Open — and it’s going to hurt for a few days. But onwards and upwards and on to the Olympics and trying to win a medal for Ireland.’

There’s no reason why he can’t do that. Lowry would have been a detective if he hadn’t become a golfer and those close to him think his forensic eye for detail on the course — nothing escapes his attention — means he would have been perfect for cracking cases.

One thing that did escape early on here was a careless dropped shot on the third. It’s a relatively simple hole but Lowry’s decision to lay up short of a burn backfired and a bogey five looked like it was going to put him out of the conversation almost immediately.

‘Keep it up Shane!’ one Irish voiced implored from the gallery. ‘Go on Shane, boy!’

Whether he heard the message is unclear but what happened afterwards was mesmerising. Off he went in a blur of piercing drives and gasp-inducing approaches, a run of four birdies in six holes to the turn sending expectation soaring.

On the eighth green, he spent much of his time keeping an eye on Scottie Scheffler coming up the seventh fairway, rather than playing partner Adam Scott. It was as if he felt the danger was immediately behind and bettering him was going to be the key.

But, frustratingly, there would be no more birdies until the 17th and for all that he fought, the impeccable Schauffele’s own run of four birdies in six on the back nine meant there was nothing Lowry could do. No amount of consoling, no amount of commiserating could provide solace.

‘How could you not look back on it positively, a chance to win the Open?’ Lowry asked. ‘The critics will say that I probably should have won from where I was yesterday afternoon, but it’s not easy out there. It’s not easy to win tournaments like this. I hit the ball as well as I’ve ever done.’

The defiance was admirable but his true feelings were lurking. Soon enough, they would appear again. When you see pain begin to rush over a sportsman like an unexpected wave, the moment is raw, and as magnanimous as he was to Schauffele, how Lowry wanted to be in his position.

‘I did everything I could,’ he said — and he was right. ‘Unfortunately, I came up short. All I want is to win one more.

‘The way I was playing, I thought I was going to be going back to Portrush with the Claret Jug. Maybe I’ll go back as an Olympic medallist. That would be pretty cool.’

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2024-07-21T21:49:45Z