The dust has settled on Shane Lowry’s win at Doonbeg last weekend, and it’s still right to ask did it really happen.
Everything about the 2026 Irish Open was surreal: the Chinooks, the Trump family reunion, Lowry’s incredible golf.
It was fitting that Lowry won the tournament by 11 strokes, playing some of the best golf of his life. On the back of a frustrating season, Lowry reached a level we haven’t quite seen from him before. He shot 62, 65 and 63 on the final three rounds to win his national open.
After he won, Shane Lowry got a selfie with the President of the United States, sang Green and Red Of Mayo with a few Mayo footballers, called into a pub in west Clare for a brief singsong and was in Adare Manor the next day alongside his European Ryder Cup teammates.
On that final day of the tournament, there was a marked contrast between the real life reception Lowry received, and the online discourse about his character.
Lowry’s words from the 18th teebox on Saturday towards some spectators – ‘they deserve to get hit’ – had sparked a huge controversy online, and Lowry took a lot of flak, a lot of it from faceless accounts.
While it’s fair to point out a double standard in how Irish fans and the media react to Lowry versus the likes of Patrick Reed, it’s also true that the Clara man still seems to possess something fundamentally similar to the fans who support him, and that’s even after all the money he’s made playing pro golf.
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On the 18th green, Lowry stopped for photos beside a few fans who had a flag with the words ‘The Offaly Jesus’ emblazoned on a tricolour, with Lowry’s head replacing that of our lord and saviour.
13 September 2026; Shane Lowry of Ireland celebrates with supporters after winning the Amgen Irish Open Golf Championship 2026 at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, Clare. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
We spoke to two members of the group- Evan O’Neill from Limerick and John Mulcahy from Dublin- this week about the flag and their love for the Clara man.
They said they’d made the flag during covid and it hung above a bar in Evan’s home. The lads had family friends who knew Lowry and they decided they’d start bringing the flag to tournaments
“We decided from 2024, any golf event that Shane was playing in that we were going to we’re gonna bring the flag around.”
Lowry inspires that kind of devotion. The Offaly Jesus flag was at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, and has been at two Opens as well. The lads are certain it will be making an appearance at Adare Manor next year.
We asked Mulcahy for his take on the hot mic controversy, and his opinion on the ‘heat of the moment’ remark is worth considering –
Shane is probably the type of sports star who loves golf. He’s extremely fortunate to get to play it for a living. But in terms of the fame, he wouldn’t be the biggest fan of that. However, having said that, he’s very true to himself and he’s very generous with his time. Like he’s just won an Irish Open and he comes over to a group of young lads. And again, there was a lot of kids around the green too. He was getting photos with them after, signing the autographs.
Shane’s a very normal lad, and very true to himself. He has a lovely family. I know from a few of my friends who’d be close with Shane, he’s very generous to all of them, makes sure they get tickets to all his events. He’s a very, very genuine guy and yeah, of course, becoming more of an Irish hero with every trophy he wins.
There’s an inherent modesty to Lowry that will always make him more popular to Irish fans than Rory McIlroy and many other Irish sporting greats.
That modesty is best summed up by this anecdote told in our youtube comments this week on the video of Lowry singing in West Clare by Paul Donohoe.
Met his mother and sister in the queue in Supermacs at 10:30 last night [Sunday} after the golf and had a great chat with them. Didn’t know who they were for the first couple of minutes just chatting about our day at the golf. I asked her did she get stuck like ourselves in the queue for the bus for almost 2 hours to bring us to the carpark. She said she stayed in the grounds of the course and I said, ‘oh, very nice’ to which she replied, ‘I’m Shane’s mother“
Mic drop.