Bank of Ireland has signed Irish professional golfer Shane Lowry – number 75 in world rankings – in a sponsorship deal which runs to the end of December 2016.

The bank’s three-year sponsorship contract with Pádraig Harrington ended in 2010 and, since then, it has stayed away from the tees.

This deal sees Offaly-born Lowry (27), who already has picked up several sponsors including the Bonnington Group and Sxrin, wearing the bank's branding on the left chest of his tops in addition to hosting a number of corporate events for the bank each year.