It was Lowry's best-ever opening round in a major.

Brendan O'Brien, Lahinch (pic) No pressure, Shane Lowry had insisted.

Shane Lowry will embrace the mantle of leading home hope at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open despite his determination to dismiss all talk of a potential victory.

Ireland international James Sugrue will fly to England on Saturday confident he is in the best possible shape to impress Walker Cup selectors and kick-start a special season amongst the game’s amateur elite.

Tramore’s Robin Dawson led from the front again as Ireland remained on track for gold medal glory at halfway in the World Amateur Team Championship at Carton House.

Ireland intend to take full advantage of playing for the Eisenhower Trophy on home soil this week after getting their men’s 2018 World Amateur Team Championships title bid up and running in style at Carton House.

Kinsale’s John Murphy will make his senior debut for Ireland in the European Amateur Team Championship in Germany next month.

Some friendly advice from Paul McGinley has set up South of Ireland champion James Sugrue for an all-out assault on Irish domination in 2018.

So near and yet so far. It was very disappointing coming so close to making it through to the next round of the European Tour Q-School, but the upshot is my professional ambitions are on hold for a year and I have an opportunity to dedicate a year to elite amateur golf.

Not making the GB & Ireland Walker Cup team that faced the United States at the weekend was disappointing but it was nothing I wasn’t expecting.

The next step in Mount Juliet’s evolution has arrived, writes Kevin Markham.

It could easily have been two wins in South Africa but I’ll take it on the chin and move on, writes Robin Dawson.

Everyone loves Shane Lowry. He’s not just one of us in that he’s Irish. He’s one of us in that he loves his GAA, he seems as if he’d be more at home in your local than some highlife nightclub; the kind of fella you’d love to have a pint with, all the more because he comes across as the kind who’d be all on for having that pint with you as well.

Neil Manchip almost made it as an elite pro golfer but found his calling as a coach and has inspired Ireland’s rise as a world power in the sport. He is in Augusta this week, as Shane Lowry’s coach. But he doesn’t like to describe their relationship that way...

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

Shane Lowry enjoyed his idea of the perfect birthday on Saturday, a round of golf with his closest buddies.

Davis Love III has named Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker as three of Team USA’s vice-captains for next year’s Ryder Cup in Minnesota.

Three weeks out from the Walker Cup and Irish top amateurs are already claiming the headlines.

Shane Lowry will go into today’s Scottish Open with a new look and a determination to ignore the expectation building around him ahead of next week’s Open Championship at St Andrews.

Rory McIlroy’s seemingly inevitable absence from next week’s Open Championship and possibly beyond should not deter the four-time major champion from kickabouts with his mates, believes Shane Lowry.

With good reason, Shane Lowry admitted to embarrassment and shame and letting family and friends down after an outburst of temper during yesterday’s second round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open probably cost him the chance of capturing the title for the second time in six years.

The great Australian professional Bruce Crampton might never have won a major, but with four runner-up finishes to his credit, he still knew a thing or two about the game and what makes a golfer tick.

After completing his commitments in San Antonio, Texas, Shane Lowry’s full attention now turns to his next tournament and a maiden Masters appearance. 

Shane Lowry has always distinguished himself as a fearless competitor, but giving up the chance to ease his pre-Masters nerves with an early visit to Augusta National must rank as one of his boldest decisions so far. 

Shane Lowry sparkled on the final day of The Open to earn his highest finish in a major but fall agonisingly short of the world top-50 ranking he craved.

In-form Shane Lowry returns to the US Open arena this week, no longer just happy to be there as he was on his debut three years ago but confident that he can compete in a major championship.

There is not a week goes by when someone isn’t bemoaning the state of golf.

The Leaving Certificate exams seem a long way off right now but the business of choosing which colleges and universities to apply for is a necessarily important process and not least for golfers with ambitions of becoming a touring professional.

Irish golf has never produced as many players willing to chase the ultimate dream of a place on the game’s major tours. Whether they can afford to follow their dreams is another matter altogether.

Shane Lowry may be relaxed about qualifying for next month’s Accenture Match-Play Championship but he doesn’t like the idea of facing good friend and world No 1 Rory McIlroy in an opening round encounter.

NUI Maynooth struck a blow for Irish college golf yesterday as their Paddy Harrington scholars lifted the coveted Barton Shield on the second day of the All-Ireland Cups and Shields finals at Kinsale Golf Club.

Today’s Barton Shield final at Kinsale Golf Club promises to be a classic battle between youth and experience as the young guns of NUI Maynooth vie with Banbridge for an All-Ireland title at the Chartis-sponsored Cups & Shields National Finals.

The 2012 cups and shields get off to flying start at Kinsale Golf Club today with the Barton Shield semi-finals.

SPEND an hour or two in Shane Lowry’s company and you quickly find an uncomplicated young man with a bright, positive attitude to life and one whose head won’t be turned by fame and fortune.

FOR a game so reliant on the power of positive thinking, Irish Open memories do not come much better than Shane Lowry’s.

LOOK up ‘amateur’ in a dictionary and you’ll see words such as non-specialist, layman and even dilettante.

COACH Neil Manchip put one over on pupil Shane Lowry when he outscored the European Tour star by three shots in the opening round of the Ladbrokes.com Irish PGA.

WITH Pádraig Harrington and Gareth Maybin on the way home prior to the weekend — and only Rory McIlroy threatening the top of the leaderboard — it was a disappointing Open Championship for the Irish.

CIAN CURLEY took his first major step on the road to success in the paid ranks when he returned a ‘professional’ level par 72 in the final round to win the East of Ireland Amateur Open by two strokes at windy Baltray.

THEY say the weather alters one’s mood but the momentous change in the conditions at Baltray over the weekend didn’t seem to bother Newlands’ Cian Curley as he opened a commanding four-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the East of Ireland Amateur Open Championship.

SHANE LOWRY picked up a cool $36,000 for finishing 77th on his American debut but in terms of experience it was a priceless for the Irish Open champion.