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" Next week I'll be playin' in Memphis in front of a man and a dog "
One of my favourite quips of many from Shane Lowry after his most enjoyable win, topping a historic week at the 148th Open which had a bit of everything at Royal Portrush.
This refreshingly unfiltered Irishman, modest, vulnerable, someone said he "looks like a guy who should be guarding the Claret Jug... not holding it", connects with everyday, ordinary folk, because that's what he is...albeit with an extraordinary ability to play the game of golf.
Mother Nature was very kind all week, welcoming the viewing world to sunshine as coverage began to her little slice of what has been a troubled part of the world, 40 minutes NW of Belfast, right on the Atlantic seaside at Portrush.
She provided fairly benign weather all week long, but she arrived with a rainstorm and wind blowing at 25mph that the locals are all to familiar with on the back nine on Sunday.
That was critical as none of the chasing pack could mount any sort of challenge in the wind, not one of the 6 final groups, including the Keopka's, Rose's, Fowlers and Fleetwood's broke par.
That left Shane, not Rory or Paddy or GMac or Darren, riding along with his 6 shot lead built on his magnificent 63 on Saturday, to finally emerge unscathed from the crowd converging on the 72nd in Open tradition, to tap in, and change his life, and perhaps others in Northern Ireland, as well as the Republic, forever. At very least he did those ancient relationships, no harm.
Bryan Angus
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