{"id":126383,"date":"2025-09-10T00:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/126383\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T00:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:23:13","slug":"rory-mcilroy-explains-memorable-little-fat-kid-with-glasses-shane-lowry-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/126383\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy explains memorable ‘little fat kid with glasses’ Shane Lowry story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy has recalled the time he and coach Pete Cowen recognised the talent in a teenage Shane Lowry, who was labelled “the little fat kid with glasses”.<\/p>\n

Renowned coach Cowen worked with both McIlroy<\/a> and Lowry<\/a> as youngsters and played a huge part in turning them into world-class golfers.<\/p>\n

The story emerged in 2019 when Cowen was asked for his opinions on the pair, and the instructor claimed<\/a>: “Rory’s going to be great, but there’s another good one out there. The little fat lad with the glasses!”<\/p>\n

It’s a well-known story on Tour, and McIlroy was asked for his version of events during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of the BMW PGA Championship<\/a> at Wentworth.<\/p>\n

McIlroy also joked<\/a> about the future of his caddie Harry Diamond<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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McIlroy, fresh off his spectacular Irish Open victory<\/a> at The K Club on Sunday, has clear memories of being coached by Cowen along with Lowry, who is now one of his best friends on Tour.<\/p>\n

“Shane was a bit of a late bloomer,” said McIlroy, who is looking for his first win at Wentworth since 2014. “So I probably really didn’t get to know Shane until we were like 17 or 18 years of age.<\/p>\n

“You could always see the potential in Shane, he always had the hands. Obviously Pete was there and he was coaching us or he was brought in as a consultant for the Golfing Union of Ireland.<\/p>\n

“Obviously Pete has worked in a lot of world-class players over the years. He obviously has an eye for seeing these things.<\/p>\n

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\"Shane <\/p>\n

Shane Lowry<\/p>\n

“Shane was the kid with the glasses that had a great short game, and he’s obviously turned out to be a hell of a player, major champion and a great competitor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think that’s the thing like that I respected more about Shane than anything else is just his grittiness and his competitiveness, and he cares a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think that is a good thing 99 percent of the time, but sometimes I would say maybe he cares too much sometimes.<\/p>\n

“But yeah, he’s obviously one of my best friends out here and carries himself so well, and obviously happy to play on another Ryder Cup team with him in a couple of weeks.”<\/p>\n

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