Eleven shots, and a record that had stood since 1987
Shane Lowry did not just win the Irish Open this afternoon. He took it apart. Eleven shots clear at Trump International Golf Links, a margin nobody had managed in the history of his national open. Bernhard Langer had owned the old mark since 1987, ten shots at Portmarnock.
The final round was a 63. It equalled the low score of the day and carried Lowry to 23 under par for the week. Patrick Reed and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann shared second place at 12 under, which tells you most of what you need to know about how Sunday went for everyone else.
Lowry opened with a 67 on Thursday and looked like one of a dozen players in the mix. Then came 62, 65, 63. Twenty under par across three rounds. The 62 on Friday was a course record.
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A second Irish Open, seventeen years after the first
He won this tournament in 2009 as an amateur, a story still told in clubhouses around the country. He is 39 now, with a major and a Ryder Cup reputation collected since, and a second home title that arrived in a shape nobody saw coming.
The cheque is worth $1.02 million and it ends a barren 2026 for him. The number that may matter more sits in the Race to Dubai standings, where Lowry climbed 73 places to 17th in a single afternoon. Reed is projected to stay top of that list.
Three straight rounds in the 60s or better on a links course in September is not a normal week. Doing it while the field behind you is scrapping over second place is something else again.
McIlroy heads to Wentworth with mixed feelings
Rory McIlroy arrived as defending champion and never got into it. A tie for 41st, a four-over 74 in the third round, then a 67 on Sunday that at least sent the world’s second-ranked player home with a respectable score. He is projected to hold second in the season-long standings regardless.
“I think overall, I’ve seen enough good stuff this week to give me encouragement going into next week, a golf course that I know well and a golf course that I’ve had success on,” McIlroy said of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. “Obviously it wasn’t the week that I wanted but at the same time, I don’t feel too far away, and I feel good about going into Wentworth next week.”
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