Shane Lowry

Lowry grew up in Clara County, Offaly, the son of 1982 All-Ireland-winning footballer Brendan Lowry. He learned his early golf at Esker Hills Golf Club, where he began his amateur career. He attended Athlone Institute of Technology as a scholarship student for the Higher Certificate in Sport and Recreation. In July 2019, he achieved the ultimate dream of any golfing Irishman by winning the British Open.
To make the vision grander, he won it on Irish soil at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, the first time the championship was held outside England and Scotland since 1951. He joined Padraig Harrington as only the second major champion from the Republic of Ireland.
Lowry was the 2007 Irish Amateur Close Champion, defeating Niall Turner, 4 & 3, in the final. While still an amateur in May 2009, he won The Irish Open on the European Tour, defeating Robert Rock on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff. In his tour debut, the win made him the third amateur to win on the European Tour, following Danny Lee earlier in the 2009 season and Pablo Martin in 2007. Lowry shot a 62 to equal the lowest-ever score by an amateur on the circuit and led from the second round onward. Walker Cup Captain Colin Dalgleish described the win as "fairytale stuff," adding, "You'd have to say that Shane's victory was the biggest (of the three amateur wins). To win your own national Open is quite something. It was unbelievable, it really was." The win was remarkable because it was only the second home win since 1982 and the first since Padraig Harrington in 2007. Harrington was also praised: "It's fabulous for Irish golf. You only have to look at the fact it is such a rarity for an amateur to win, such a rarity for an Irish player to win the Irish Open."
Lowry elected to turn professional the week after his Irish Open triumph, meaning he would miss the opportunity to play at the Walker Cup in September. He made his professional debut in May at the European Open, missing the cut. He also missed the cut in his next two starts, finally cashing his first check when he finished 50th at the Open de France ALSTOM. He had his best professional result to date in November 2009, when he finished 3rd at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan. In January 2010, he finished 4th at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, moving him into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
In June 2010, Lowry qualified for his first major championship, the British Open at St. Andrews. During qualifying, he matched Nick Faldo's course record at Sunningdale when he posted a 62. Lowry made the cut at St. Andrews and eventually finished T-37th. He won for the first time as a professional at the 2012 Portugal Masters, where he shot a final-round 66 and won when Englishman Ross Fisher bogeyed the final hole after missing a 4-foot putt. The victory elevated Lowry to 74th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
2009 Notes: Played in 19 European Tour events (18 as a professional), making nine cuts with just one top-10, his win as an amateur at the Irish Open. His next best finish was T-15th at the KLM Open. He finished the year 153rd in the Race to Dubai with earnings of euro144,843. At the end of the year, he finished T-3rd at the Dunlop Phoenix Open on the Japan Golf Tour.
2010 Notes: Played in 31 European Tour events, making 22 cuts with two top-10 finishes. He was 4th at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and 7th at the Barclays Scottish Open. He was ranked 62nd in the Race to Dubai.
2011 Notes: Played in 25 European Tour events, making 13 cuts with four top-10 finishes. He was T-4th at the BMW PGA Championship, four strokes behind winner Luke Donald. He was 4th at the Andalucia Masters, three strokes behind winner Sergio Garcia. He finished T-5th at the Iberdrola Open and T-8th at the season-ending Dubai World Championship. Placed 41st in the Race to Dubai. He was T-3rd at the Dunlop Phoenix Open on the Japan Golf Tour.
2012 Notes: Played in 28 events on the European Tour, making 18 cuts with five top-10 finishes. He won for the first time as a pro at Portugal Masters, 11 weeks after finishing T-2nd at the Lyoness Open. In his next start, he was 5th at the BMW Masters. He was T-4th at the Sicilian Open and T-7th at the Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol. Ended the year 29th in the Race to Dubai.
2013 Notes: Played in 20 European Tour events and had six top-10s. His best finishes were a T-3rd at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and a T-5th at the Irish Open. He was ranked 36th in the Race to Dubai. He also played nine events on the PGA Tour, with one top-10 finish, a T-9th at the WGC-Accenture Match Play, where he lost to Graeme McDowell in the third round.
2014 Notes: He had a slow start, missing the cut in six of his first eight starts. He bounced back to finish runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the BMW PGA Championship. Seven weeks later, he finished T-4th at the Aberdeen Asset Scottish Open, then T-9th at the British Open. He finished T-2nd at the Handa Wales Open, just a shot behind winner Joost Luiten. Played in 27 events on the European Tour and placed 10th in the Race to Dubai. He finished the year with a 5th-place result at the DP World Championship, Dubai.
2015 Notes: Decided to play on both the PGA and European Tour. Placed T-7th at the Farmers Insurance Open, then T-6th at the BMW PGA Championship, followed by a T-9th at the U.S. Open. Lowry entered the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone two strokes off the lead before firing a bogey-free 66 to claim a two-stroke win over Bubba Watson. Lowry saved the best for last as his tee shot at No. 18 went deep into the left rough. His second shot flew 141 yards through the trees and landed 11 feet, 1 inch away from the hole. Lowry drained the putt for birdie to seal the win. He earned his first PGA Tour victory in his 28th start at age 28 years, 4 months, and 7 days, earning a three-year exemption on the PGA Tour through the 2017-18 season. He played in 18 European Tour events, with his best finish on European soil a T-2nd at the British Masters, two shots behind winner Matthew Fitzpatrick. He was T-6th at the BMW PGA Championship. In his 18 starts, he made 15 cuts with five top-10s. He was 8th at the Turkish Airlines Open and finished the year 5th in the Race to Dubai.
2016 Notes: Made 17 PGA Tour starts with two top-10 finishes. He was 102nd in the FedExCup standings and 67th on the money list. He finished T-6th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Entered the final round of the U.S. Open with a four-stroke lead over Dustin Johnson and Andrew Landry but struggled to a 6-over 76 to finish T-2nd. Became the first player to lead a U.S. Open by four strokes or more and not win since Payne Stewart in 1998 (led by four over Tom Lehman and Bob Tway). He played in 15 events on the European Tour with just one top-10 (U.S. Open). Best finish on European soil was T-18th at the Alfred Dunhill Links. He placed 30th in the Race to Dubai. In late November, he finished T-9th at the ISPS Handa World Cup with teammate Graeme McDowell on the Ireland team at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Australia.
2017 Notes: Played 16 events on the PGA Tour, making 11 cuts. He had one top-10 and a T-7th at the Wyndham Championship. He finished 127th in the FedExCup standings. On the European Tour, he played 16 events, making 12 cuts. He ended his season with a T-2nd finish at the DP World Tour Championship, a stroke behind winner Jon Rahm. Was T-6th at the BMW PGA Championship, 7th at the British Masters, and T-8th at the Turkish Airlines Open. He finished 22nd in the Race to Dubai.
2018 Notes: Played 13 European Tour events and made 13 cuts, with two top-10 finishes. He competed in 19 events on the PGA Tour, making 13 cuts with no top-10 results. He finished 140th in the FedExCup standings. His first top-10 was a 6th-place finish at the Portugal Masters in October. He was runner-up to Sergio Garcia at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters. He ended the year 44th in the Race to Dubai.
2019 Notes: On the PGA Tour, played in 14 events, making nine cuts with four top-10 finishes. He was 33rd in the FedExCup standings. He played in 15 events on the European Tour, making 13 cuts with three top-10 finishes. He started his year on the right foot with a win at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Made a birdie at the 72nd hole for a one-shot victory over Richard Sterne. He was T-3rd at the RBC Heritage. He opened the week with scores of 65-68 to hold the outright lead after each of the first two rounds but shot 71-70 over the weekend. After opening up with a first-round 75 at the PGA Championship, he shot 69-68-69 to finish T-8th. Shot 66-67 on the weekend to finish T-2nd at the RBC Canadian Open. It was his second runner-up on the PGA Tour and his best finish since winning the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. A month later, he showed up at Royal Portrush, looking for a change of fortune. He had missed the cut in his last four British Open starts and in his last 18 major starts, missed 10 cuts. He got off to a great start by making four birdies in his first 10 holes. Shot a first-round 67 and was only a stroke out of the lead. With a second-round 67, he tied for the lead and then took off with a flawless third-round 63, carding eight birdies. He started the rainy, wind-blown final round with a four-stroke lead and won by six strokes with a 72. With the victory, he was the seventh player in British Open history since 1919 to win by six or more strokes. He also became the first player in PGA Tour history to make his first two wins in a WGC event and a major championship. He ended the year T-12th at the DP World Tour, Dubai, and 4th in the Race to Dubai, with close to euro3.6 million in European Tour earnings.
2020 Notes: Played in 13 PGA Tour events, making nine cuts with one top-10 finish. Finished 123rd in the FedExCup standings. Played in ten European Tour events making eight cuts with one top-10 finish. Was 47th in the Race to Dubai. He started the year 2nd at the Hong Kong Open, his first top-10 since his win at Portrush. His next best finish before the break from COVID-19 was T-11th at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. After the postponed Players Championship, he decided with his wife Wendy to go to their home in Florida where, with their daughter, they spent time instead of going to Ireland. They were thinking of returning to Ireland in May, but with the new PGA Tour schedule, they decided to stay in the U.S. He didn't play any golf for six weeks and played for the first time on April 29th. Because of the cancelation of the British Open, he was the holder of the Claret Jug for two years, the longest someone has held the Jug since Dick Burton was the holder of the Jug for seven years between 1939 and 1946 because of World War II. Was T-6th at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, four strokes behind winner Justin Thomas. It was his first top-10 of the year, and his best PGA Tour finish since winning the British Open a year earlier. In the FedExCup playoffs, he missed the cut at the Northern Trust. Went back to play twice on the European Tour. He missed the cut at the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open and was T-13th at the BMW PGA Championship.
2021 Notes: Played in 21 PGA Tour events, making 19 cuts with four top-10 finishes. He finished 45th in the FedExCup standings. He played in 14 European Tour events making 13 cuts with three top-10 finishes. Was 20th in the Race to Dubai, earning euro1,278,481. Was T-11th at the Vivint Houston Open. He was 8th at The Players Championship, five shots back of winner Justin Thomas. Shot a final-round 66 at the RBC Heritage to finish T-9th. At the PGA Championship was T-4th, shot final-round 69, and was four shots back of winner Phil Mickelson. He finished T-6th at the Memorial. He represented Ireland at the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing T-22nd. In the FedExCup playoffs was T-11th at the Northern Trust and T-26th at the BMW Championship. He played in his first Ryder Cup with a 1-2 record. He was beaten 4 & 2 in his singles match with Patrick Cantlay. He was T-4th at the Alfred Dunhill Links, three shots back of winner Danny Willett. He ended his season with a T-9th finish at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
2022 Notes: Played in 18 PGA Tour events, making 15 cuts with four top-10 finishes. He finished 32nd in the FedExCup standings. He played in 11 DP World Tour events making nine cuts with three top-10 finishes. Was 9th in the Race to Dubai, earning euro2,823,700. Shot 67-67 over the weekend to finish T-2nd at the Honda Classic. Shot final round of 69 at the Masters to finish T-3rd, five shots back of winner Scottie Scheffler. Next week shot a final-round 69 at the RBC Heritage to finish T-3rd, a shot back of the Jordan Spieth/Patrick Cantlay playoff. He was T-10th at the U.S. Open and T-9th at the Horizon Irish Open. In the FedEx Cup playoffs was T-46th at the FedEx St. Jude and T-12th at the BMW Championship. On returning to Europe, he won the BMW PGA Championship by a shot over Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes due to the death of Queen Elizabeth. In the final round, Lowry was able to withstand an onslaught from Rahm, who shot 62, finishing birdie-birdie-eagle. Lowry made a birdie on the final hole to secure the tight victory. Lowry ended his season T-23rd at the DP World Tour Championship.
2023 Notes: He was T-5th at the Honda Classic, five shots back of the Chris Kirk/Eric Cole playoff. In the majors was T-16th at the Masters, T-12th at the PGA Championship, and T-20th at the U.S. Open.