09/13/26 01:45:00
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09/13 13:44 CDT Shane Lowry crushes field at Doonbeg for record 11-shot victory
in Irish Open
Shane Lowry crushes field at Doonbeg for record 11-shot victory in Irish Open
DOONBEG, Ireland (AP) --- Shane Lowry gave his home crowd and President Donald
Trump plenty to cheer Sunday when he turned a four-shot lead into a runaway at
Doonbeg, closing with a 7-under 63 to break the Irish Open record with an
11-shot victory.
Lowry opened with four birdies in eight holes, one of them from 45 feet over a
ridge at No. 7, and the Irishman poured it on before a delirious gallery at
Trump International Ireland.
His final act was a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th green. Lowry began
stretching out his arms as the ball was still a few feet from the cup. The way
the week had gone, it was the only fitting conclusion.
"This is incredible," Lowry said, wiping away tears. "I'm so happy."
He finished on 23-under 257, seven shots better than the previous 72-hole
record of 264 by Jon Rahm at Lahinch in 2019. Lowry won by 11 shots over
Patrick Reed (64) and Joaquin Niemann (67), breaking the Irish Open record by
one shot for the largest victory margin. Bernhard Langer held the record of 10
shots at Portmarnock in 1987.
Lowry won the Irish Open for the second time, 17 years after he won as an
amateur. So many great things have happened since then. Lowry won the British
Open at Royal Portrush in 2019, and he holed the clinching putt for Europe when
it won the Ryder Cup last Septembe r.
"I said walking down the last, obviously Portrush was incredible, last year was
incredible, and I feel like I can't better it," Lowry said. "But look at this."
It had not been the smoothest year. Lowry had the Cognizant Classic in hand at
PGA National in Florida when he made a mess at the end and tied for second.
Lowry did not have another top 10 all year until his blowout performance at
Doonbeg.
"He had a big chance earlier this year at the Cognizant. I felt like he never
got going with his season after that. Knocked him back a little bit," Rory
McIlroy said after he closed with a 67 to tie for 41st. "To see him in
contention out there, obviously the whole country would love to see him get it
done, me included."
It was never in question on a cloudy day along the Atlantic coast, where Trump
watched from a box seat while wrapping up his weekend trip to Ireland.
Reed started 10 shots behind and ran off six birdies in 10 holes, but none
after that, to tie for second and expand his lead over McIlroy in the Race to
Dubai.
Lowry's victory margin was the second-biggest on the European tour this year.
Yurav Premlall of South Africa won by 14 shots against a weak field at the
Catalunya Championship in May.
"I just don't do things half-measures," Lowry said with a grin. "I can't
believe I'm standing here on top of the leaderboard. I said to my caddie --- I
didn't know how I was doing --- I said to him on 14 after I holed that birdie
putt, ?How are we doing? How far ahead are we?' He said, ?Far enough.' So I was
happy with that."
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