Irish golf more than holds its own on world stage

The golden autumnal sunshine at Doonbeg greeted Shane Lowry as he played the final few holes during his procession to the Irish Open title last Sunday evening and it was a fitting end to what has been one hell of a fortnight for golf in this country.

The Offaly man’s stunning performance on the Co Clare links came just a week after his fellow county man, Stuart Grehan, played a starring role in Great Britain and Ireland’s stunning triumph over the United States up the road in Lahinch.

And, on the same day that Lowry got the job done, Leona Maguire was doing likewise over in the Netherlands as part of the European Solheim Cup team in their win over the United States. For a small island, that's not a bad return in such a short space of time.

Indeed, the last week, in particular, could well be a watershed one for Shane Lowry and golf in Ireland.

There’s no doubting Lowry’s raw talent, which has been evident for almost 20 years now since his breakthrough success, in quite remarkable fashion, at the Irish Open in 2009 when he won as an amateur.

His triumph as a professional some 17 years later could hardly have been any different.

Lowry’s win at Baltray all those years ago came after a nerve-jangling play-off in the driving rain; this time around, his sublime play on Sunday ensured there was never any doubt about the outcome having taken a four-shot lead into the final day. A red-hot putter over the weekend was a key part of a record-breaking 11-shot victory.

Lowry’s win will put plenty of demons to rest after what has been one of the more challenging periods in his professional career.

Earlier this year, he let a winning position slip on two occasions – once in Dubai when a final hole double bogey ruined his chances while, at the Cognizant Classic in Florida, a wild tee shot on the 16th hole saw him fall away in gut-wrenching fashion.

A flat summer ensued, but his play at Doonbeg over the past week was Lowry at his very best. His driving of the golf ball, on a course where it’s easy to get into trouble – just ask Rory McIlroy, who racked up four double bogeys over the course of the four days – was sublime. And his putting was better than ever, in stark contrast to McIlroy who complained of his difficulty in reading the greens.

The win does so much for Lowry’s standing in the game at this point in his career, too.

It will see him return to the world’s top-50, a key metric in gaining access to the biggest tournaments; it will propel him up the Ryder Cup qualification standings and it will give him a jolt of confidence at a point when his career threatened to flat line as he enters his 40s. Indeed, as a key figure in the European game, Lowry is poised to be a central figure at next year's Ryder Cup at Adare Manor, following on from his heroics at Bethpage Black last autumn.

Lowry always spoke of his desire to add a second major championship to his win at Portrush in 2019 and, on the evidence of his display at Doonbeg, he still has all the tools to do just that over the course of the coming years.

There’s also several lucrative tournaments to play in the coming months on this side of the world – starting with this week’s flagship event at Westworth, the BMW PGA Championship, which was Lowry’s last individual success in 2022 before last Sunday’s win.

A home winner for the second successive year at the Irish Open neatly bookended a tremendous couple of weeks for golf on the island.

Many areas of the country will undoubtedly hold a fair degree of jealousy towards county Clare, given the exposure both Lahinch and Doonbeg received over the past couple of weeks. Their hosting of both tournaments was first-class.

The Walker Cup at Lahinch was arguably the best-ever edition of the competition, which is saying something when you consider the calibre of player that has participated for both sides over the years.

Great Britain and Ireland claimed victory in truly extraordinary fashion with the final putt on the final green, but the couple of days over the links at Lahinch provided more wonderful advertisement for links golf here.

Whatever Lahinch might have lost in green fee revenue over the course of the week, they will more than make up for it in the coming years as thousands from the United States endeavour to get the chance to take on a course that features, perhaps, the two most iconic holes in Irish links golf; the par-five fourth and the blind par three fifth, affectionately known as ‘The Dell’.

Much has been made of the success of Irish golfers on the world stage over the last 20 years, stretching back to Padraig Harrington's major breakthrough at the Open Championship in 2007. But, alongside Irish golfer's rise as competitors, the golf tourism market here is also witnessing a boom that continues to rise.

There's a consistent stream of visitors to all four corners of the island now for a good six months of the year and next year's Ryder Cup at Adare Manor is bound to increase that traffic to a level never-before-seen in these parts.

Jon Rahm, speaking ahead of last week’s tournament, told the assembled media that, for a golf trip, Ireland is arguably the best place in the world to go for quality golf courses and world-class hospitality. Let’s hope that continues.

A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say, and the west is benefitting too with our top courses like Carne, Co Sligo and Enniscrone continuing to carve out a unique place in the Irish game.

Perhaps, in the not too distant future, an Irish Open will come to Connacht for the first time and we too can get a chance to show off the west in all its glory.