How Shane Lowry and Doonbeg silenced the doubters

Even Shane Lowry admitted on Sunday night, moments after celebrating on Doonbeg's 18th green, sporting a grin as wide as the one he wore as a 22-year-old amateur at Baltray in 2009, that he too had his doubts.

"I have a lot of doubters out there," Lowry admitted in his post-round interview with RTÉ TV. "And even you know, you doubt yourself at times."

Many feared what one veteran golf observer predicted would be a sh*t-show at Doonbeg, given the divisiveness created by the high-profile host, the narrow roads, and the unprecedented security measures put in place on an untested links.

But more of Doonbeg later.

Lowry's unvarnished and startlingly honest reaction to his win was understandable after he dismantled a world-class field, and Doonbeg, by 11 shots, to banish all thoughts of a career decline.

The 39-year-old Offaly native has spent the past 18 months navigating a peculiar kind of purgatory.

Pádraig Harrington won majors at 35 and 36 and played some of his best golf aged 41, but reminded everyone last week that pro golfers have a 20-year window before the inevitable happens.

Lowry's golf has been of the highest order since he won the 54-hole BMW PGA in 2022, but he hadn't won an individual event until the stars aligned and he produced his very best stuff at Doonbeg, 17 years after first bursting on the scene at County Louth.

It was only natural for him to feel doubt creeping in after letting winning chances slip away in the Dubai Invitational and the Cognizant Classic and then suffering a final round meltdown at the Masters, where he shot 80 to turn a chance to contend into another mid-table finish.

Failing to make the top 50 in the FedEx Cup was a watershed moment, but rather than letting those disappointments fester, he gathered his team around him for a mini boot camp in Florida and arrived in Co Clare with the determination and marauding aggression of a bearded invader.

His resurgence began a little earlier this summer when he made the difficult decision to change caddies after the US Open, returning to Dermot Byrne, who had been on his bag for the first decade of his career.

"I felt mentally I was in an amazing place this week," Lowry said. "I felt like I went out and went after it. I felt like I played somewhat carefree golf, when I wasn't worried about making mistakes. I wasn't worried about the outcome of anything."

On Sunday, he was unaware of exactly how big a lead he'd built but only knew that he wanted to do what Dr Bob Rotella had always advocated — relentless focus from holes one to 18.

"I want you to run out of holes like a track man running through the tape," Rotella told Pádraig Harrington before his play-off win at The Open in 2007. "If a track man starts slowing down before the tape, he loses time."

Lowry had the same idea.

"I said to Neil [Manchip] this morning, maybe I got caught up a couple of times this year of not playing to the final whistle when things happen," Lowry revealed. "Whether I'm five ahead or five behind, I'm playing to the 18th, and we'll see where we are after that.

"I said to myself this week, and I don't know why it came into my head, but I said I'm going to go out and go after this tournament. And I never really think like that, and it really stuck with me all week."

His 11-shot margin of victory eclipsed Bernhard Langer's 10-shot win over Sandy Lyle at Royal Dublin in 1987 and vaulted him from 53rd to 41st in the world rankings, back inside the magic number for Masters qualification.

He's also top of Europe's Ryder Cup qualifying charts.

As for Doonbeg, the resort could not have wished for a better week.

"You couldn't have scripted it any better," said Brian Shaw, Doonbeg's Head Professional for the past 26 years.

"He was the ideal person as a winner. The crowd up the 18th, the golf on Sunday, it was Open Championship type stuff… it was bonkers."

After Lahinch Golf Club staged a remarkable Walker Cup the weekend before the Irish Open, the Irish Open somehow managed to deliver a thrilling encore and Lowry wasn't the only one to play their part to perfection.

"The exposure is colossal," said Shaw, who believes the two events will lead to an increased uptake in golf by local youngsters. "That's huge in the area."

Business will boom, too.

"Already this morning the phone was hopping—086 and 087 numbers," he said. "A lot of Irish want to go and play."

He added that the event far exceeded their expectations.

"Absolutely, one million per cent."

The Championship returns to The K Club next year for the 100th anniversary staging, and while it's too soon to say whether it will return to Doonbeg, it's not ruled out.

"It's a tough one, really," Shaw said. "I would definitely want to see how long it takes for the course to come back. Once the teardown is finished, you can see it's six months or whatever. How long does it take? That's the first thing.

"But right now, with the emotion of the whole thing, absolutely, I'd love to host another one because we really, really enjoyed it."

Plans are already in place to remove pinch points, especially around the second and third.

Buy-in from local clubs from Kilkee, Kilrush, Lahinch, Dromoland Castle and Spanish Point bolstered the 450-strong volunteer cohort.

"Lahinch had such an epic week themselves up there, and they're down marshalling and carrying scoreboards and all that kind of stuff; I just thought that was fantastic.

"All the clubs rallied, and like Paul McGinley's Irish Open at Lahinch in 2019, it was the same thing in terms of the cooperation with the Garda and Clare County Council. It was pretty cool.

"In terms of the impact for us, we're a busy club anyway, but the exposure is huge for the uptake in golf with kids. There are loads of juniors coming through the clubs, and I think that events like the last two weeks will really strengthen that.

"Next year is probably not quite sold out here, but most of the tour operator bookings are already nailed down. But we'll probably end up getting a lot more business from the UK too."

We'll miss Lowry, Harrington, and Rory McIlroy when they're gone, but for now, the Irish golfing bandwagon rolls on.