Proud dad Brendan Lowry told how his son’s Open heroics have helped lift the nation.
As the family basked in Shane’s phenomenal first Major victory, he revealed the 32-year-old was once seen as “a bit odd” when he swapped the hurl for a putter in GAA-mad Offaly.
But after Sunday he has become a national sporting hero – and €1.7million richer.
Beaming from the family home in Kilcoursey, Clara, on Tuesday, All-Ireland football winner Brendan, 60, told the Irish Mirror: “A lot of Irish people woke up happy this morning.”
He and wife Bridget dropped middle child Shane off to the local golf club, Esker Hills, every day.
Since that famous Open win, the family has been catapulted into the media spotlight. And as the focus now shifts to a massive homecoming bash for the golfing hero, Brendan insists of the attention: “It’s a good complaint.
“You know, he had a four-shot lead on Sunday, so if he lost that you wouldn’t be knocking on my door.
“You know what I mean, that’s just the way it is. Happy times.”
It has been a rollercoaster week for the family as nerves quickly turned to joy when their boy came up trumps.
Brendan admits he could do with some time out to digest the win but he won’t let tiredness stand in the way of the celebrations.
He added: “You say you want a break and all that but I mean next week there’ll be nobody calling, so live in the moment.
“And try be as nice to people as you can be without getting too annoyed because how do you get annoyed over your son winning a Major like that?
"We’re just delighted. We’re so thrilled he did what he did and the way he did it.
“It’s such a big tournament. The whole of Ireland, everybody, was rooting for them.”
He admitted the location at Royal Portrush in Co Antrim was the icing on the cake. Brendan said: “It really was a family affair.
“I was so delighted he did it in Ireland because more family could travel to it.
“If he won it in England or America there wouldn’t have been too many family there, so it was really the right time to win and the right occasion and the right place.
“Everything just kind of fell into place.”
Shane is the couple’s second child. Brendan added: “He’s the middle guy. Esker Hills opened up say in 1995 or 1996 and he just took up golf.
“He started playing pitch and putt and then started playing golf. He was out there every day.
“He got dropped [off] in the morning and in the evening.
“None of us played golf but he just played golf all of the time.”
Shane’s fixation with the sport was unique and few peers matched his enthusiasm for the fairways.
The Lowrys from Ferbane are one of the great Gaelic football families – Brendan and uncles Sean and Mick won All-Ireland medals with Offaly in 1982.
Brendan scored 0-3 in that final, the pinnacle of almost 15 years playing with the Faithful County’s seniors, which also saw him win an All-Star award as the country’s best left corner forward in 1981.
He said: “I suppose that time in Offaly if you didn’t play GAA or if you didn’t play soccer you were inclined to be a bit odd if you played golf.
“He played GAA up until he was about 16 or 17 but when he got serious with the golf, he just played golf.”
An official homecoming will take place at 6pm on Tuesday.
Brendan added: “There’s no word yet of anything going on but when he does [come home] it’s going to be hectic.
“It will be amazing.”
