SHANE LOWRY fought back tears as he delivered a touching message to his daughter after completing a stunning Irish Open triumph at Doonbeg.<\/p>\n
The Offaly star also admitted he was almost lost for words after bagging his second Irish Open crown as US President Donald Trump watched on at his golf resort in Clare<\/p>\n
Shane Lowry was emotional after completing a record-breaking Irish Open triumph at Doonbeg<\/p>\n
Lowry lifted his second Irish Open trophy 17 years after famously winning as an amateur<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump presents Shane Lowry with the Irish Open trophy after his record-breaking victory at Doonbeg Credit: Peter Morrison<\/p>\n
Donald Trump made a speech following Lowry\u2019s stunning 11-shot Irish Open triumph at his stunning track<\/p>\n
Lowry finished the week on a sensational 23-under, sealing his second national open title 17 years after famously winning as an amateur at Baltray in Co Louth.<\/p>\n
His victory at President Trump\u2019s stunning west Clare links was a record-breaking one, with Lowry\u2019s 11-shot demolition of the field surpassing Bernhard Langer\u2019s ten-stroke winning margin at Dublin\u2019s Portmarnock in 1987.<\/p>\n
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And after rolling in a 29-foot putt at the last to put the finishing touch on his victory, Lowry reflected on a year which has not always been straightforward.<\/p>\n
Lowry had taken a commanding advantage into the closing stretch but revealed he deliberately avoided keeping too close an eye on the leaderboard.<\/p>\n
It was only after another birdie at the 15th that he finally asked his caddie just how comfortable their position was.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: \u201cI mean, this year has been quite difficult on the course for me. I\u2019ve had a few chances to win and I took some really tough times.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yeah, to come here this week and do this, like, come on. I don\u2019t know, I just don\u2019t do things by half measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m standing here at that leaderboard. Oh my God.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to my caddie, I didn\u2019t know how I was doing. I said to him on 15, after I holed that birdie putt, \u2018How are we doing? How far ahead are we?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Far enough.\u2019 So I was happy with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, a lot of things went right for me, but this has been the most spectacular week. I think everything about it, it\u2019s just mad. I can\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum was just standing there. It\u2019s been unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowry\u2019s wife Wendy and their children were back at the family home in Florida, but they were never far from his thoughts during the celebrations.<\/p>\n
The Irishman revealed that he took inspiration from Katie Taylor\u2019s farewell win at Croke Park last week as he opened up on what the triumph meant to him and his daughters.<\/p>\n
Lowry was in the crowd as the \u2018Bray Bomber\u2019 brought the curtain down on her legendary boxing career in front of her home support.<\/p>\n
He emotionally added: \u201cMy wife and my kids are back in Florida. When things are not going well at this level, it\u2019s hard at home as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut my wife\u2019s been a huge support, and my kids, and I just love them so much. I\u2019m so happy for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait to bring a trophy home. My daughters always ask me, \u2018When are you going to bring a trophy home?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yes, I\u2019m going to bring one home. She\u2019s going to be absolutely delighted with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously Portrush was incredible. Bethpage last year was incredible and I keep feeling like I can\u2019t better it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this is just \u2013 look at this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat in Croke Park last Saturday night watching Katie Taylor with almost a little bit of jealousy, what she was achieving and getting to do it in front of her home fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I got to do this this week. This is incredible. I\u2019m so happy. It means a lot. It means a lot.<\/p>\n
The 39-year-old also admitted difficult spells on the course can also take their toll away from golf \u2013 and paid tribute to the support he has received from his family and coaches.<\/p>\n
The teary-eyed Irishman concluded: \u201cI honestly am speechless. It\u2019s hard to talk. I just can\u2019t believe I\u2019ve just done that and done it the way I\u2019ve done it as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had to fight a few demons off over the past few months on the course when you get yourself into contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did take some time away the last few weeks. I worked pretty hard. I got all my team over to Florida and we worked hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this just shows you what hard work can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
US President Trump then presented Lowry with the Irish Open trophy on the 18th green before addressing the packed galleries at Doonbeg.<\/p>\n
The American leader congratulated the Offaly star on his dominant victory as the celebrations continued around the West Clare links.<\/p>\n
Crowds also cheered on Trump and chanted \u201cUSA\u201d as he told them he was removing tariffs from Irish whiskey during a speech following Lowry\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n
He said he had discussed the matter with the Taoiseach, adding: \u201cEverybody\u2019s been bugging me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are saying would you do me a favour? It\u2019s so unfair what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould you possibly take the tariffs off of Irish whiskey and I said, on behalf of the United States of America, I am going to take the tariffs off Irish whiskey.\u201d<\/p>\n
His 11-stroke victory will firmly banished the ghosts of his late collapses at the Dubai Invitational and Cognizant Classic earlier this season.<\/p>\n
The final round 63 would complete a remarkable week for Lowry, who opened with a 67 before smashing the\u00a0Doonbeg course record with a 62\u00a0on Friday and following that with Saturday\u2019s brilliant 65.<\/p>\n
And 17 years after winning the tournament as an amateur in County Louth, the home hero once again got his hands on the prestigious trophy.<\/p>\n
The champion pockets more than $1million from the tournament\u2019s overall $6million purse, which has remained at that level since 2022.<\/p>\n
He also collects 835\u00a0Race to Dubai\u00a0points as well as 250 vital\u00a0Ryder Cup\u00a0qualification points for the Adare Manor showdown next year.<\/p>\n
The Irish Open boasts one of the biggest prize funds on the regular DP World Tour schedule outside the Majors and Rolex Series events.<\/p>\n
Runner-up and Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed is due $660,000, while both third and fourth place carry paydays north of $300,000.<\/p>\n
All those inside the top 12 on the leaderboard are in line for six-figure sums.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SHANE LOWRY fought back tears as he delivered a touching message to his daughter after completing a stunning…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[196,3923,2625,40],"class_list":["post-12320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-shane-lowry","tag-donald-trump","tag-katie-taylor","tag-section-sportgolf","tag-shane-lowry","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117272999610257621","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}