The tradition has developed whereby the giant yellow leaderboards on the grandstands by the 18th hole, wherever the venue, display a message to the Champion Golfer of the Year. For this 152nd Open at Royal Troon, it went: “Well Played Xander See You at Royal Portrush 2025″.
Unquestionably, Xander Schauffele was a very worthy winner of the Claret Jug, to add to a trophy cabinet that only recently held the Wannamaker Trophy as US PGA champion. In becoming a multiple Major champion in the same year, the American has joined a special club. He departs the Troon links aware of an elevated status, as the world number two and potentially the one most likely to play catch up in time on Scottie Scheffler.
Shane Lowry had already left the course by the time the message was carefully worked into the frame of the leaderboard. For much of the week, he’d had strong aspirations that the name would be his, not Xander’s, in the lettering for the return of The Open, for the 153rd edition, on the Causeway Coast where the Offalyman claimed his Claret Jug in 2019.
At the start of the week, Lowry said he would love just one more Major title to add to his career CV. As he left on Sunday evening, for a family holiday in Portugal before getting his head in the game for the Olympics in Paris, Lowry again repeated that aspiration. Just one more!
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“I’m sure going back to Portrush will have its challenges next year for me with some demands and people are going to be talking about me a little bit more than they were in 2019. But I’ll go back and I’ll enjoy it.
“Who knows between now and then what’s going to happen? We have a lot of good golf to play. Hopefully I’ll be going back, you never know, as an Olympic medalist or a Major champion or something. That would be pretty cool,” he added.
The truth of the matter is that Lowry will not only have next month’s Olympics to play for this season but also the FedEx Cup’s barrels of greenbacks, as his finest season so far on the PGA Tour has seen him move up to 10th on the latest order of merit standings and very much on target for the PGA Tour finale in Atlanta.
And, of course, Lowry will have played the Masters, the US PGA and the US Open next year before getting back to Royal Portrush (where it is expected to be a sell-out attendance with the public ticket lottery open, due to close on July 31st, and already heavily subscribed).
Lowry may, as he put it himself, “rue” what happened on Saturday as his clasp on the Claret Jug was loosened in the wind and rain in a third round 77 that saw him slip from 36-holes leader to playing catch-up on Sunday in what ultimately proved to be a vain chase.
Still, Lowry’s final round on Sunday would be his third in the 60s of the championship and, at 37 years of age, he would appear to be playing the most consistent golf of his career. He was the only Irish player this year to make all four cuts in the Majors, securing sixth-placed finishes at both the US PGA and The Open and a top-20 finish at the US Open.
Lowry’s next tournament is the limited-field Olympics where Rory McIlroy will also be competing in the individual event. Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow have qualified for the women’s event.
Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke – who both made the cut at Royal Troon – move on this week to the Seniors Open presented by Rolex at Carnoustie.
Clarke made his first cut in The Open since 2013 at Troon and, as a past champion under 60, is guaranteed his place in the field for the Open’s return to Royal Portrush next year. It most likely will be his last appearance.
“I’ve been thinking about it quite a lot. I’m 55 now, I’ll be 56 next time at Portrush and it may be the last time when I say ‘thank you for very much, that’s enough for me’ and give some young kid the opportunity that I had when I was starting off. We shall see, [I’m] certainly looking forward to being back at Royal Portrush all being well,” said Clarke.
For now, it is the Seniors – which he won in 2022, when he finished a shot ahead of runner-up Harrington – which is on his mind.
Lowry at the Majors 2024
Masters 43rd
US PGA tied-6th
US Open tied-19th
The Open 6th
McIlroy at the Majors 2024
Masters tied-22nd
US PGA tied-12th
US Open 2nd
The Open Missed Cut
