Speaking on The Open Podcasts, he said: “Straightaway, I tapped in on 18 on Saturday evening, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw myself in yellow, four ahead of Tommy Fleetwood. I said to Bo [caddie Brian ‘Bo’ Martin], ‘at least I won’t get asked too much about Oakmont, being four ahead again’. I was ready for it.
“The next 24 hours were among the most difficult of my life. Anyone who says to enjoy something like that is absolutely mad. You can’t enjoy it, I enjoy look back on it and it’s very fond memories, but it’s just such a nerve-wracking time.
“It is a difficult position to find yourself in. It’s the position you want to be in but it’s also a difficult position to be in. Looking back on it, it was incredible obviously.”
Part of the challenge, for Lowry, and many others, is around timing. Generally if you are leading after three rounds, it means that you are among the final finishers on Saturday.
A late finish, followed by media duties and the adrenaline of being on the brink of major glory, makes sleep difficult. In Lowry’s case, knowing how much support he had at Portrush, even eating proved a challenge.
He recalled: “It was horrible. On the Saturday night, you are still buzzing. I didn’t leave the golf course until 8.30pm. You get back and have dinner and you are still absolutely buzzing and wired from the adrenaline.
“Sunday morning I was probably fortunate that the tee times were brought forward a little bit. I was up at 6, I didn’t go to sleep until 12 or 1, so I only got a few hours’ sleep. I barely ate breakfast, I didn’t have any lunch, I basically didn’t eat that day, I was so sick with nerves.
“That stuff goes through your head on the Sunday. Imagine the headlines that will be written about you on the Monday morning if you don’t win.”
Thankfully for Lowry, those headlines were never written. He went on to win by six strokes from Fleetwood.