Winning for the first time in the United States is far from easy and Shane Lowry’s dramatic win at Firestone proved just that. But the Offalyman himself proved that he has the nerves of steel to hold out in the hardest of circumstances.
Completing a Lowry double after his brother Alan had won the Mullingar Scratch Cup earlier in the week, the shot through the trees on the 18th accompanied by a grimace similar to Packie Bonner in the lead up to Kevin Sheedy’s goal against England at Italia 90, the scenes of celebration in the Esker Hills clubhouse in the late hours of a Sunday night - it had all the hallmarks of a great Irish sporting victory.
And it wasn't just any PGA Tour win. The World Golf Championships are second only to the four majors on the pecking order of elite professional golf. Lowry held off a determined charge from two-time major champion Bubba Watson coming down the stretch in a championship won eight times by a man called Tiger Woods. The win earned him a three year exemption onto the PGA Tour, a ticket to next year's US Masters and moved him into the world's top-20. In short, it catapulted him onto the world stage.
The 141-yard gap wedge through the trees (with a bit of luck from a branch on the way down) on the final hole is the shot that will be remembered and watched over and over again but there were a number of other key ‘clutch’ shots coming down the stretch. None more so than on the 10th hole.
A pulled tee shot left him blocked out by trees on the left. Pitch out onto the fairway and hope to save a par? No way. Turning to his caddie, Dermot Byrne, he said “if this was a practice round I would go for it, just do it”. And so he did. Pulling out a sand wedge Lowry managed to flip it up and over the trees, landing in the greenside rough and rolling to within a foot of the hole for a tap-in birdie.
But perhaps the vital moment came at the 14th. After driving into a bunker and being forced to pitch out onto the fairway, Lowry was left with an up-and-down to save par. His approach came up some 20-feet right of the pin but from there he rolled in the putt to save par and remain two shots clear of Watson. Clutch.
After another par save on the 17th, followed up by the remarkable birdie on the 18th, Shane Lowry was the WGC Bridgestone Invitational champion, $1.57 million richer and Offaly could celebrate.
