It might not sit too well with the Royal and Ancient that they decided, after almost 70 years to play The Open Championship in Northern Ireland, that a golfer from the rebel Republic of Ireland to the south won the 148th edition of The Open Championship.
No worries, it was sheer coincidence, not a plan of reunification.
Regardless of traditional animosities, Shane Lowry is one of those sorts who it is hard to dislike.
He is one of those sorts all the other professional golfers view with respect. Week in, week out, he goes about his business without seeking the spotlight or doing anything even mildly controversial.
Winning The Open in 2019 moved him from 33rd to 17th on the list of the Official World Golf Rankings.
His only other win on the PGA Tour was the 2015 World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational.
A dedicated family man, Lowry told reporters that the biggest thrill to winning The Open was having his young daughter in attendance to see him win.
He is nice to his mum, too. He rewarded her faith and sacrifice by winning the Irish Open in 2009, where mum had a $100 punt on her darling boy at odds of 250:1.
This year was Lowry’s seventh attempt at The Open Championship, where he missed the cut the last four years. He tied 37th in 2010, did not qualify in 2011 and 2012 and his previous best finish was tied ninth in 2014.
To provide some perspective on the code of professional golf, Lowry has never made more than three consecutive cuts prior to this year. This is the first season when he has been a regular fixture in the top 10 table, with five to-10 finishes this season.
For non-golf fans, about the only reason to watch the final round at Royal Portrush was to see if Lowry would produce a cringe-worthy train wreck.
He entered the final round with a four-stroke margin after 54 holes. He increased that margin to six shots at the conclusion and just as he did winning the Irish Open 10 years ago, he beat an Englishman in the process, Robert Rock in 2009 and Tommy Fleetwood in 2019.
