Nothing soothes the pain of bitter defeat like the salve of victory but Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry know they will have to display the patience of Job if they are to win their second Amgen Irish Open titles this week.
After blowing a golden chance to win the US Open with a fragile finish and watching an Olympic medal gurgle to the bottom of a Parisian lake, the Co Down man admits that a win at world-class Royal County Down “after the year that I’ve had” would be the best way to “forget” the ones that got away, even if he does have to remind himself he’s won three times.
Firm and fast despite one of the wettest summers on record and buffeted by 40 mph northwest gusts yesterday, stately Royal Country Down promises to be the ultimate test of patience.
McIlroy can motor away from world-class fields when he’s in free-flowing mode. But when conditions scream danger and decision-making becomes crucial, he knows he can lose focus, take on the wrong shot at the wrong time and end up looking foolish.
“It’s just sort of finding that balance between pressing enough and not pressing too much,” he said of the lessons of 2024 and his goal for 2025. “And if I think back to the 15th hole at the Olympics on that last day, I pressed a little too much there, trying to get a wedge a little too close, instead of maybe accepting 15 or 20 feet behind the hole.
“So it’s picking the right shot or having the right thought at the right time. At the top level of all sport, whether it’s football or golf or rugby, the margins are so, so fine, and this year, I’ve just been on the wrong side of those margins. Next year, I’m hopefully going to be on the right side.”
McIlroy will certainly hope to avoid a repeat of the 2015 Irish Open at the Newcastle links, where blind tee shots, myriad run-offs, and bearded bunkers lie ready to trip up even the most accomplished athlete.
He was hosting at Royal County Down seven years ago when he opened with a nine over 80 en route to missing the halfway cut by four shots.
Conditions in May were so tough that only five players broke par, and two-under made a playoff, won by the tidy but short-hitting Dane Soren Kjeldsen.
The weather this year looks likely to be just as challenging when it comes to wind but Lowry believes he’s a far more mature player than the 28-year-old who destroyed his putter after just three holes of his second round in 2015.
Despite putting with a wedge for the remaining 15 holes, he somehow managed to shoot a 74 to make the cut before publicly apologising to playing partners Francesco Molinari and Ernie Els for his fit of pique.
“I knew you were going to talk about that,” Lowry tsked, grateful that his next inquisitor reminded him of the magnificent season he has enjoyed this year.
“Look I’ve done stupid things in my career. I got over it. I moved on and I managed to make the weekend. I played pretty well. Big test of patience. I’m nine years older now and I’d like to think a little more mature.”
Considering the frustration levels he displayed in the third round of The Open at Royal Troon, when a Saturday 77 in demanding conditions shattered his dream of lifting a second Claret Jug, Lowry knows that he must deal with every bad break like a Zen monk.
“It’s going to be a really tough test, and I think it could be one of the highest-winning scores ever in a European Tour event this week,” Lowry said after a windblown practice nine. “Would I take level par and sit here and wait? Possibly. That’s how tough it’s going to be.
“But we have played in probably just the toughest conditions. Saturday looks not great, but the next two days look okay. We’ll see how it goes.”
While he won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with McIlroy and finished tied ninth in the Tour Championship to earn a $1.6 million FedExCup bonus, Lowry would love to win for the first time since the 2022 BMW PGA.
“It’s nice finishing with where I finished on the FedEx but would I probably trade a win for a few places on that, really,” he confessed before admitting he’s running on fumes after a busy year.
“I played five weeks in a row to finish the FedExCup, and I was absolutely shattered last week, and I had only three days at home, and I had to come back out here for some stuff to do over the weekend.
“I’ve been a busy man this year, and not going to lie; I’m feeling it a little bit. I’m pretty tired. When I get going, I’ll be okay. Adrenaline keeps me going, and I’ll be fine.”
McIlroy and Lowry are the bookies’ favourites, but England’s Aaron Rai and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, two players who’ve excelled in poor conditions, look the high-quality threats in a field boasting five of the world’s top 50 and 14 of the top 100.