Andy DevaneyShane Lowry wins Irish Open by 11 shots, finishes 23 under and turns a four-shot Sunday lead into the most emphatic DP World Tour victory of the season.
Seventeen years after winning the event as an amateur, he did it again with rather less suspense.
A four-shot lead became a very long Sunday for everyone else
Lowry began the final round four clear. By the time he signed for a seven-under 63, Patrick Reed and Joaquin Niemann were tied for second at 12 under and the gap had swollen to 11. Four shots is a lead. Eleven is an audit.
The detail of the round was almost needlessly emphatic. Lowry birdied the first from 16 feet, holed from 43 feet at the par-three seventh and later added a 44-footer from the fringe at the 15th. A final birdie putt at the 18th completed the rout and gave him the largest winning margin in Irish Open history.
There was no late wobble, no manufactured jeopardy, no need for a television graphic explaining permutations. Lowry simply kept extending the distance between himself and everybody else.
The week was won before Sunday became ceremonial
The decisive golf had started two days earlier. Lowry’s second-round 62 set a new course record and pushed him firmly into contention. From there he did not retreat.
By the end of the week he had reached 23 under, ranked first in Strokes Gained: Total and second in scrambling. That combination explains plenty. The scoring was obvious, but so was the damage limitation: when holes threatened to become expensive, Lowry repeatedly found a way to get out with less harm than seemed likely.
That is often the difference between a player who looks sharp and one who wins by double figures. Plenty of golfers can produce a low round. Very few can keep the floor so high for four days that the rest of the field effectively needs a second tournament.
Lowry’s short game removed the loose ends
The scrambling figure is particularly telling because this was not simply a week of flag-hunting and easy birdies. Lowry’s touch around the greens kept his score moving in the right direction even when the approach play did not leave him in ideal positions.
His Cleveland Golf RTZ 2 wedges — 50 and 56 degrees in MID grinds, plus a 60-degree LOW — were part of a set-up that also included Srixon ZXi5 long irons, ZXi7 scoring irons and a Z-STAR XV ball.
There was also a new Srixon driver in the bag, set at 9 degrees. It is tempting, especially around equipment launches, to attach a neat cause-and-effect story to a fresh club and a fresh win. Golf is rarely that obliging. What can be said is that Lowry put the new driver straight into competition and then led the field in Strokes Gained: Total. The rest belongs in the realm of testing rather than mythology.
Seventeen years changed the player, not the significance
Lowry’s first Irish Open title came in 2009, when he won as an amateur. This one arrived with a major championship already on his CV, six previous DP World Tour titles behind him and considerably more scar tissue from the business of trying to win for a living.
That made his reaction worth listening to.
“This year has been quite difficult on the course for me. I’ve had a few chances to win and took some really tough times, but to come here and win is incredible. I can’t believe I’m standing here and looking at that leaderboard. This has been the most spectacular week.”
The victory was his first of the 2026 season and seventh on the DP World Tour. It also came four years after his previous win on the circuit at the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.
The Race to Dubai now looks rather healthier
The result was expected to move Lowry to 17th in the Race to Dubai Rankings as the season heads towards its closing stretch. Rankings can make even the most emotional sporting week sound like spreadsheet maintenance, but momentum matters, particularly for a player who had described the year as difficult.
The more useful point is simpler. Lowry arrived needing a result, found one at home and did not merely edge across the line. He won by 11.
Seventeen years after his first Irish Open title, the trophy is his again. This time, nobody needed a recount.
