After the Open, Lowry opened up about his relationship with Padraig Harrington and how things changed.
Padraig Harrington no longer plays on the PGA Tour full-time; he is now predominantly on the Champions Tour. However, Shane Lowry misses the elder Irishman and expressed that after he came up short at The Open Championship.
Lowry led the tournament after 36 holes but had a disastrous third round, going from leading by three to trailing by three shots.
That high score bothered him, and while he dwelled on it Saturday evening, his friends were there for him. Harrington was as well. He gave Lowry a pep talk and forced him to listen.
“Padraig was trying to give his positive talk, and I was trying not to listen,” Lowry said with a laugh. “I said to the boys, I said, ‘That’s the reason I miss Paddy out on Tour.’”
“I miss him an awful lot just for his positivity and just how good of a person he is. He certainly was helpful last night. I turned off my phone and tried to be with the people around me and go out today and give it my best, and I did that.”
However, Harrington says it was not a pep talk. He just happened to be around Lowry and his buddies.
“We just had a chat. Wasn’t anything like that,” Harrington said on Sunday. “He had his crew with him, and I sat down for a while, and we talked about everything. I don’t think he needed me, and I don’t think I had to be there, but that doesn’t mean — you know me; prepared to give anybody a lecture.”
The 52-year-old is a two-time Open Champion but has had his own heartbreaks. So it appeared he was ready to give Lowry whatever he needed.
As Irishmen and likely through the Ryder Cup, they have bonded and built a relationship. Lowry’s comment about missing Harrington on Tour shows how tight they are. Having someone like the veteran there had to benefit Lowry because a round like Saturday can damage the confidence.
Lowry went out Sunday and shot a 3-under 68 to win a solo sixth. It is not the same as taking home the Claret Jug, but for him to move up the leaderboard on Sunday had to be massive and an internal win. He was upset to lose after playing so well those first two days, but sometimes that is how golf works.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
