Nothing says Irish sporting occasion like a full pub at the weekend erupting in celebration.
That was the scene across the country when Shane Lowry holed the putt to clinch the Ryder Cup for Europe. Ok, retain… But still, who remembers Tyrrell Hatton getting the “winning” half point moments later?
There are two terms I hate in sport. ‘Footrace’ and ‘recency bias’. Unfortunately the latter has been very prominent over the last week or so.
Some fans and even sportswriters have been getting carried away with Lowry’s moment. I even heard it described as the moment of the year. Talk about not reading the room or at least not thinking for five minutes if anything remotely similar even happened before…
Lowry’s Ryder Cup putt is just about on par with Rory McIlroy’s Irish Open eagle to force a playoff at the K Club. And in many ways is the moment of the year for the impact it could have on the hundreds of children who surrounded the 18th green that day.
McIlroy’s putt to win the Masters is not only the sporting moment of the year but is one of the great global sporting moments of all time.
Can’t we just enjoy that the two biggest moments which will bookend this golfing season come from golfers from this island?
The reason for the overreaction to Lowry’s putt in Bethpage Black stems from his popularity. He is far more identifiable than McIlroy.
I think every sports fan, casual or passionate, sees a bit of themselves in Lowry. The thunderous facial expressions when things aren’t going wrong, the ‘F’ bombs, the grimaces. But also the sheer joy and delight when he succeeds, the passion he shows not only for himself but for others, for Europe, for Ireland and for Offaly.
There is a sense of normality about Lowry. He could walk into your local and you’d easily sit down and have a pint and the craic with him. McIlroy’s fame dictates that he probably can’t do that, which is sad in a way. But Lowry thinks the way any Irishman or woman thinks…
Of winning All-Irelands for their county in Croke Park. Lowry’s sense of Irishness travels wherever he goes. Despite his God given golfing talent, his dream was always to lift Sam for the Faithful like his father.
There lies the identity that we all feel with Shane, the g’wan ye boyyah, up Clara and all that. Which is why his Ryder Cup moment is the most popular sporting moment of the year – although if Ireland can get a result in Lisbon this weekend we could be back on track to eclipse that!
Those who want to partition Rory and leave him up the North will die on their Lowry hill. But they are wrong. Or they just have no idea what actually happened at Augusta National in April.
Taking away the historical element. No Irish golfer had won a major championship since 2019. McIlroy himself was teeing it up in the first major of his eleventh season since he last clinched one of golf’s big four titles even with the increased pressure of trying to end that drought with the one which had always eluded him.
Repeated buckles under the pressure of trying to bury the demons of years gone by, anyone would have been forgiven for accepting that it would happen again.
But McIlroy, in true McIlroy fashion finally delivered. A crowning moment for Irish golf, a historical moment for all of golf.
No Irish golfer had ever won the Masters. No Irish golfer had ever won the Grand Slam, a club which housed just five players until this year. The Grand Slam had not been won for 25 years.
Understandably, McIlroy hasn’t always been everybody’s cup of tea. But over the last decade it has felt like the will of the world has been with him in his quest for a major nevermind a grand slam winning Masters.
McIlroy’s winning putt was a moment we may never see again. Yes, it looks like Scottie Scheffler will join that exclusive half dozen but you just never know in golf. Many players have flirted and fallen short. Jordan Spieth looks further away than ever.
Irish golf has been a constant in Ryder Cup folklore. Some of our relatively unheralded players have had legacy defining moments in the contest and Irish players will continue to produce in the future.
But will we ever see anything like McIlroy’s Masters moment again? Will another Irish player ever win the Masters?
