Shane Lowry's Open bid comes up shy as Xander Schauffele ...
Shane Lowry’s bid to win a second Open Championship came up short in Ayrshire on Sunday afternoon despite a fighting four-under 67 that left him briefly as the joint-clubhouse leader before Xander Schauffele claimed the Claret Jug.
Five players actually sat above the Irishman on the active leaderboard as he left the last green, with tournament leader Schauffele five strokes ahead, and the 2019 Open champ will leave Troon with regrets after an awful ten-hole stretch here late on Saturday.
The 37-year old went 17 holes without a birdie, from the 4th on Saturday to the 4th on Sunday. He lost eight shots to a double bogey and six bogeys in that stretch, the vast majority of the damage coming in atrocious conditions in round three.
It was a case of déjà vu for Lowry who started the last round of the US PGA at Valhalla in May with designs on lifting the Wannamaker trophy, only to see Schauffele card a superb final-round 66 for what was the first of his two major titles in 2024.
WINNER: Xander Schauffele's wins The Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Harry How/Getty ImagesThe Californian’s win here also confirms a first clean sweep of the majors for the Americans since 1982 after his own PGA win in Kentucky, Bryson DeChambeau’s triumph at the US Open in Pinehurst and Scottie Scheffler’s victory at the Masters.
That Lowry kept the dream alive for so long was no small thing.
It looked close to curtains when he lost a shot at the par-four third at the start of his last round, but it was actually the cue for a blistering return to form by a man who led at the halfway stage on the back of rounds of 66 and 69 before a costly 77 in round three.
Four birdies in five holes had everyone believing.
It could have been even better had a 43-foot putt on the par-five 6th not stopped inches short, but then there are checks and balances to these things. Witness his 55-foot putt for birdie at the hole before which was motoring when it dropped.
That prompted a trademark fist pump and a roar of ‘C’mon!’ from the 37-year old who made the turn at four-under, one off the lead at the time, but his charge hit the buffers at the perilously difficult 11th 'Railway' hole for the tracks along the right.
His tee shot found rough, his second was pitched to 63 yards and the struggle ended with a bogey to push him back to three-under at a time when the likes of Thriston Lawrence, Justin Rose and Schauffele were motoring along without a dropped shot between them.
Lowy was four behind Lawrence midway through his back nine and needed to force the issue with at least a few birdies but he was saving par from the bunker on 14 while the South African was ripping a tee shot down that perilous 11th.
Five pars after that drop on 11 were finally followed by a long birdie putt on 17 to take him to four-under but Schauffele was racking up the birdies at that point and Lowry eventually settled for a highly-respectable sixth-place finish.
