A lesson for nice guy Shane Lowry — you just have to get fitter

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.

You’d hope so with all the friends he has, that some of them will be frank and honest enough with him to tell him a couple of home truths, over a few pints if it needs be: to give yourself the best chance to win majors, you’ve got to lose some more of that weight. You’ve got to get fitter, physically, and in other ways too. It’s not something any of us are looking forward to anyone having to say.

A big part of what makes Lowry so endearing is his Everyman appeal. There’s something hugely authentic about him; he’s not trying to be anyone else, especially some automaton gym bunny. If he is like anyone else, it’s that he’s something of a throwback to a time when portly men like of John ‘Wild Thing’ Daly and Craig Stadler boomed and shuffled their way to majors before Tiger introduced golf to the gym.