The Men’s Olympic Golf competition is the fifth biggest event of the season, unless you are Shane Lowry.
There is arguably no greater advertisement for Irishness or being Irish on the sporting landscape than Lowry. It’s his devotion and passion for his country that perhaps separates himself and his Olympic teammate Rory McIlroy in the eyes of golfing neutrals.
“I’d love to win a medal for Ireland. Obviously I would love it to be gold but I’ll take any of the three,” said Lowry at last week’s Open Championship.
Lowry will carry the flag alongside Limerick hurdles athlete Sarah Lavin in Friday evening’s Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony and it will be a moment that will rank up at very top of his sporting career.
It’s a big move for golf at the Olympics. Having a golfer front and centre at the Opening Ceremony may give it the boost it needs.
Golf arguably should not be an Olympic sport, it has no history or tradition at the Olympics. It has been a slow burner for players with many giving it the swerve in the previous two editions.
No golfer grows up dreaming of winning an Olympic medal, it’s far away from being the pinnacle of the sport but for Lowry competing will mean the world to him. Winning any sort of medal will be a career highlight.
There’s probably no other sportsman who carries the Irish flag better than Lowry. Rarely is anybody as proud as him to be travelling the world representing Ireland week in week out on Tour.
Lowry is extremely patriotic and proud of where he is from. Every week on Tour he dons the black and white colours of his home town GAA club in Clara. Offaly jerseys follow him wherever he goes.
This summer Lowry will be dressed from head to toe in green. Representing Ireland is everything to Lowry which is undoubtedly atypical to many of his fellow tour pros, most of whom will be competing in Le Golf National.
“Anybody who knows me knows how patriotic I am and how much I love Ireland and love playing for my country,” Lowry said.
“To get to do something like this is something I will remember forever.”
It’s that patriotism which has helped him get the opportunity to carry the flag this evening.
You can take the man out of Ireland but you can’t take Ireland out of the man.
Even on his travels, Lowry is a huge supporter of Irish sport whether it be his beloved Offaly GAA, Irish soccer, rugby, or Irish athletics. The 37-year-old cheers on Ireland from afar.
He is a wonderful ambassador for Irish sport and is a worthy recipient of such an honour.
On the flip side, the decision to grant Lowry the opportunity to carry the Irish flag at the Opening Ceremony could be seen as a controversial one.
Here we have a multi millionaire who has already climbed his Everest in 2019, carrying the flag alongside other athletes who have survived on scraps, preparing and battling their way through adversity, giving blood sweat and tears for four years to make it to the biggest event of their career.
There will be athletes who are disappointed that they haven’t been given the opportunity to carry the flag on Friday evening and they have every right to be. Should an athlete from a sport that only came back into the Olympics in 2016 be a flag bearer?
After all, Lowry was one of those golfers who passed up the chance to represent Ireland in Brazil in 2016 so you can argue that flag bearers should be from sports where it is the be all and end all.
Lowry himself spends most of the year in the spotlight in Irish sport, although he has to concede a large portion of it to McIlroy. Might he have preferred an unheralded Irish athlete to grab a slice of the limelight?
But when it’s weighed up, it would be hard to find two better liked flag bearers than Lowry and Lavin, fronting the boat as it glides along the Seine.
Carrying the flag is about so much more than what sport you are competing in.
Unless you are American (Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup) the opportunity to represent your country in golf comes around every four years.
Lowry has been the heartbeat of European Ryder Cup teams over the last two editions, wearing his heart on his sleeve like he does on the golf course in individual tournaments.
Golf has become a sport that is increasingly about money so Lowry’s presence in this summer’s Olympics will be a refreshing tangent from the murky waters golf finds itself in.
Other golfers will harp on about what an honour it is to represent their countries in the Olympics, but there can be no doubt about Lowry’s commitment to the cause this summer.