Despite Shane Lowry's fairytale Irish Open win, politics and power came first

A tournament played at a golf course owned by a deeply divisive US president layered this story with more troubling dimensions.

Shane Lowry reads the green ahead of his birdie putt on the seventh green. Pic: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Zoom in and what we had in West Clare on Sunday evening was an Irishman sinking a 29-foot putt to win the Amgen Irish Open by a record margin in front of a raucous Irish crowd, and on a links course of no little beauty.

Zoom out and what we had was a tournament played at a golf course owned by a deeply divisive US president whose presence at his eponymous Trump International Golf Links and Hotel couldn’t help but layer this fairytale with more troubling dimensions.

Here, in our own backyard, and for all the world to see, was an undeniable counter to the hoary old line about how sport and politics don’t mix. Shane Lowry’s excellence and joy is only part of this picture. That is the reality. We can’t, shouldn’t, turn our eyes from it.

Trump inserted himself into the script long before he arrived in his Marine One helicopter shortly before three o’clock on Saturday afternoon. His presence had hovered over the event from the moment it was announced as the venue last June.

He interrupted play with that landing during round three. He shook hands with Lowry on the first tee ahead of his final 18. And his was the last meaningful act as he presented the now two-time Irish Open champion with the crystal on the green before flying back to the US.

None of this can be separated from this tournament. Politics and power came first, sport a distant second, Trump’s unexpected promise to address tariffs on Irish whiskey at the end of his speech just another prop in his unpredictable play.

“Irish distillers better be sending me a cheque soon,” Lowry laughed. “Must be worth a few quid to them.” If the event was sullied then the play was pure.

Lowry’s ability to achieve what he did — shooting a superb 63 and breaking Bernhard Langer’s ten-shot winning tournament margin from 1987 with a 29-foot putt on 18 — under all those circumstances was nothing short of remarkable.

He striped his first tee shot down the 1st after all that theatre, leaving Trump to give a 15-minute briefing on everything from Irish unity (again), the Ukraine-Rusia war, Federal interest rates and Artificial Intelligence to go and shoot an opening birdie.

And its not like the circus had been left behind. Eric Trump, shadowed by a dozen others, wandered down the middle of the fairway behind them and crowded the small tee boxes. He even chatted away on his phone up the third fairway.

More etiquette trampled underfoot by the First Family.

Enormous crowds dipped under ropes and scrambled up and down dunes in order to keep pace with the runaway leader as an overnight lead of four shots stretched out to six with a bogey on the second from playing partner and his nearest challenger Jacob Skov Olesen.

There was an element of giddy chaos to it all with Lowry himself acting as marshal at times. Mostly though, he just played sublime golf. There were four birdies and just the one bogey in the front nine. He negotiated the back half in four-under par to win at his ease.

“It was mad. It was something me and Dermo [Byrne, his caddie] were laughing about. We'll look back on this in years to come and be like, ‘absolutely mental stuff’: the president of the United States on the first tee and the crowds, and it was an amazing day.

“The sun was out. Like I was holing putts. The crowds are going bananas.” 

He had started on Thursday with a solid three-under par 67 carded on the back of a marathon six-hour round that ended in the gloaming of a wild day, then kicked on with a course record 62 when the weather gods went easy on the field a day later.

An assured 65 followed before the closing 63. He carded 28 birdies across the 72 holes and just five bogeys. It was exceptional work from a man who has admitted to having battled some “demons” through a year that was in danger of slipping away completely.

Losing the Cognizant Classic from a commanding position in the spring was the low, but he could have won the Dubai Invitational too, and there was a tough fade from contention from the Masters for a second year in a row to go along with all that.

That Augusta experience took the wind from his sails. He was playing okay but the results weren’t reflecting it. There was eleven tournaments in 13 weeks at one point but nothing clicked. So he stepped off the pedal and committed to a reset.

Lowry brought his coach Neil Manchip and athletic coach Robbie Cannon out to Florida, played just once in seven weeks between The Open and Doonbeg, and then played with a carefree spirit. He targeted the win here. Went after it.

“Believe in what you're doing with the people around you. I feel like I've done that. And today was a big day for me. If I didn't win today, I don't even want to think what I would have been like for the next while. It would have been hard.” 

The worth of this far outstrips the €879,000 winners cheque. It propels him back well inside the world’s top 50 which offers entry to the next Masters at the year’s end. And it leaves him top of the Ryder Cup points standings that, admittedly, only opened last month at the British Masters at the Belfry.

Adare Manor next year is firmly in his sights.

More than anything, it injects him with a renewed belief that there is more in him as he approaches his 40th birthday, a point Manchip has made when insisting there are more majors there to be won in the years to come.

This was another day of days in a career defined by them, Baltray in 2009. Portrush in 2019. Bethpage in 2025. Doonbeg in 2026 will always stand apart, though. If not for him, then for all sorts of reasons that just can’t be ignored.