Lowry wins in Portugal

Reigning Irish champion, Shane Lowry scored a sparkling five under par 68 in the final round, to finish on 14-under-par and leading individual player in the Portugal Nations Cup at Vale de Lobo's Ocean Course in the Algarve, while Ireland narrowly lost out to England for the Nations Cup.

Lowry eagled the sixteenth hole and followed with a birdie on the penultimate hole before superb approach play left him with a fourteen footer for eagle on the last, had he holed it he and his team mates, Niall Kearney and Simon Ward, would have added the Nations Cup to Irish golf’s huge haul of silverware this season.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, and despite Lowry’s inspired finish Ireland lost out on the tie breaking rule which takes into account the discarded card, the worst card of the three.

Lowry, who shot a three under par 70 in the opening round, had five birdies, an eagle and one bogey in his second round 67.

Kearney, who stepped in at the last moment to replace the injured Richard Kilpatrick, shot rounds of 72, 72, 76 while Ward fired rounds of 78, 69 and 74.

The hotly contested event attracted six of the countries that finished in the top ten of the World Amateur Team Championship in Cape Town last October.