The honest champion

Shane Lowry holds the Claret Jug as he celebrates with his wife Wendy and daughter Iris at the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush. Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

We’ve become accustomed to seeing golfers imitate the bravado of Tiger Woods — that steely resolve that permits not even a hint of nerves or doubt. Sometimes it might be true, but more often that not it isn’t, especially among players who face an uncomfortable position in a major. On Saturday night at the Open Championship, Shane Lowry had a four stroke lead, the same margin he lost entering the final round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont three years earlier. Lowry didn’t traffic in platitudes or assume an implausible facade. He admitted what fans everywhere knew to be true: “I’m s******g myself.” It was characteristic of Lowry’s unvarnished honesty, evidence that he is a man content in his own skin, a competitor willing to face the possibility of more agony for the chance of dreamed-of victory. The Open Championship could have asked for no more worthy winner.

— Eamon Lynch