Sixth place in The Open might be an impressive result for most mere mortals but Shane Lowry admits this one will “hurt for a few days”.
While he was proud he went out and fought for every shot in the final round, reeling off four birdies in five holes just before the turn to get within a shot of the lead, only an Olympic medal of some description will ease the pain of Saturday’s 77 and that weather-lashed back nine of 40 at Royal Troon.
A closing three-under 68 left Lowry in sixth place on four-under-par, five strokes behind the unflappable and metronomic Xander Schauffele, whose sensational, six-under 65 saw him become the first man since Pádraig Harrington in 2007 to win the PGA Championship and The Open in the same season.
The Californian won by two strokes from Justin Rose and Billy Horschel on nine-under 275 to complete a clean sweep of major wins for the USA for the first time since 1982.
Lowry (pictured above by Charlie Crowhurst/R&A via Getty Images) tried to put a brave face on things but even after words of encouragement from Pádraig Harrington, who waited for him in the players’ lounge on Saturday night, he knew he’d need something special to win a second Claret Jug.
“I was very down last night,” said Lowry, who had a three-stroke lead after four holes of the third round but got blown away in the wind and rain by playing those last 11 holes in six-over. “I said to the boys, you can’t just say, ‘Oh, you have a chance to win the tournament’ and then everything will be okay.
“Even I went home and (my daughter) Iris was there, and like she’s at the age now where she understands, and she knew that I was sad. She came over to me and said, you’ve still got a chance to win. Obviously, Wendy had been saying that to her before I came in. That puts a little smile on your face.”
Lowry went out three strokes behind Horschel on one-under-par and promised his coach Neil Manchip he’d fight for every shot having regretted not giving it his all in the 2016 US Open at Oakmont, where he had a four-shot lead going into the final round but shot 76 to finish three shots behind Dustin Johnson.
But while he followed an early bogey at the third with birdies at the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth to close to within a shot of the lead, he bogeyed the 11th and made no further in-roads into par until he rammed home a 40-footer for a two at the 17th.
“Neil just asked me to do one thing today,” Lowry said afterwards. “After Oakmont, I felt like I didn’t fight hard enough, and he said to me, you regretted that, you’re still regretting that, and he said, do me one thing, just fight for every shot today, and that’s what I did. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough, but so be it.”
He added: “Unfortunately, it’s not good enough, and it’s very disappointing. There’s no two ways about it.
“I had a great chance of winning this Open, and it’s going to hurt for a few days. But onwards and upwards and onto the Olympics and try to win a medal for Ireland and get on from there then.”
As for his final round, he said: “I felt I was doing the right things to give myself a lot of chances. A couple of key putts at the right moments, obviously I holed a couple of long putts today, but you need to hole everything on a day like today, especially to beat someone like Xander, who’s in the form he’s in.
“It looks like he’s kind of half running away with it again. He did that on me at the PGA, and he’s done it again today.”
He could only take the positives from his second top 10 in the majors this year and the spectacular golf he played for more than 60 holes.
“How could you not look back on it positively, a chance to win The Open?” he said. “Obviously the critics and whatnot will say that I probably should have won from where I was yesterday afternoon, but it’s not easy out there. It’s not easy to win tournaments like this.
“I did everything I could. Unfortunately, I came up short. Hopefully, over the next five to ten years, I give myself another few chances in tournaments like this and get one more. Like I said at the start of the week, all I want is one more.”
Lowry will be one of the favourites for Royal Portrush next year but it’s Schauffele who will be returning as the defending champion.
Locked in a six-way tie for second overnight, one behind Horschel, he birdied the sixth and seventh to tie for the lead with the American, Rose and Thriston Lawrence before coming home in four-under 31 to win going away.
“As a kid, you dream of it,” he said. “It’s surreal. It’s a dream come true.”
Rose (43), who shot a magnificent 67 to tie for second wiith Horschel, was impressed by every aspect of Schauffele’s game.
“I think probably one of his most unappreciated ones is his mentality,” Rose said. “He’s such a calm guy out there. I don’t know what he’s feeling, but he certainly makes it look very easy.
“He plays with a freedom, which kind of tells you as a competitor that he’s probably not feeling a tonne of the bad stuff. He’s got a lot of runway ahead and a lot of exciting stuff ahead, I’m sure.”
