As Shane Lowry was met by a pantheon of noise on the 18th green at Royal Portrush after completing a course record round of 63 yesterday, he turned dryly to his caddie Bo Martin and said: “At least I won’t have to answer any questions about Oakmont.”
The Irishman’s stunning round on a sunlit day at Portrush was worthy of winning this tournament, but he knows by way of painful experience that what’s deserved is rarely given. So, as adrenaline settled and seeped into nerves on a night that was sure to be sleepless, he is acutely aware that these 18 holes will go a long way to defining his career. He takes a healthy four-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood into the final round, but the cushion will do little to comfort his angst.
It was, after all, at that US Open in the deep suburbs of Pittsburgh that Lowry unravelled only three years ago, squandering a lead of the same margin amid a back-nine collapse that allowed Dustin Johnson to steal victory. The gruff 32-year-old has since been cut from seven of 13 majors, including his last four Open Championships. That the memory leapt to the forefront of his mind before he could even depart the swirl of the 18th green tells its own story of how the scars still lingering.
“That's a long time ago,” the leader insisted to a packed press conference room as the wails of celebration continued beyond. “I don't think I'm a much different golfer, but I feel like I'm a different person now. I learned a lot about myself at Oakmont and I learned a few things that day about playing in the final round of a major with a lead, that you need to just hang in until the very last minute. I think that's what will help me tomorrow.”
On that occasion, Lowry was forced to finish the last portion of this third round on the Sunday due to adverse weather conditions. Today, he will have to deal with an unpredictable tempest that’s already forced tee-times forward and looks set to cast a pall of wind and rain over his entire 18 holes.
To describe the forecast as gloomy is a pale and lazy description. There will be rumbling skies, thick sheets of humid rain and crosswinds billowing along the North Antrim coast at 20mph. In comparison to Saturday, where the links’ defences were laid still and bare, today could well descend purely into a battle of sheer resilience and survival.
That is a positive for Fleetwood who started one shot off the lead, produced one of his most complete performances at an Open shooting a spotless 66, and yet somehow found himself trailing by four come the end of the day. If the weather does take over the narrative of this final round and Lowry’s old demons leave him faltering, the Englishman has the nous and dexterity to thread his way to victory.
“I personally don't mind the conditions, whatever they are,” Fleetwood, who will start alongside Lowry in the final group, said ominously. “I feel like I've had some of my best rounds in terrible, terrible conditions, where I've enjoyed grinding it out. So we'll see. For sure, tomorrow, playing with Shane, last day, it's going to be more challenging to control yourself in the atmosphere.
For the likes of JB Holmes at 10-under-par, Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose, both at nine-under, it would take an extraordinary calamity to overcome at minimum a six-shot deficit. But if the weather is truly as apocalyptic as some forebode, it is by no means out of the question that one can hunt their way out of the pack.
But, despite the beloved Fleetwood’s hopes of becoming the first English Open Champion for 27 years, it is a Lowry victory here which would transcend to fairy tale scripture.
On a personal level, he can redeem the cruelty of the US Open, and pull himself onto a pedestal shared with Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke and become a favourite written into lore in these parts for years to come.
On a symbolic level, he is already outweighing the sport itself by bringing together a divided nation in unanimous support. That legacy needs a happy ending to live on and how iconic if Arlene Foster were to present him with the Claret Jug it would be.
