Shane Lowry: ‘Some week it’ll come together. Hopefully, it’ll be this week’

To many golfers, being touted as a potential major winner is the sort of endorsement they could do without. Yet far from feeling cursed after having his credentials boosted by Pádraig Harrington ahead of this week’s Open Championship, Shane Lowry seems perfectly at ease with the suggestion.

Harrington, Royal Birkdale’s most recent Open champion in 2008, on Monday said he felt 30-year-old Lowry had the game and the mindset forged from significant tournament victories in his career to get the job done at one of the famous links venues that play host to the oldest major.

The Offaly man has enjoyed some strong finishes in the majors to this point, with top-10s at the 2014 Open at Hoylake and the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay before narrowly missing out on the 2016 US Open title following a final-round 76 at Oakmont that left him in a tie for second behind Dustin Johnson.