Their work done, Rory McIlroy removed his cap, the giant horseshoe of a grandstand more empty than full, and shook hands with Shane Lowry.
Practice days are for working out the nuances, of getting lines off the tee, the pace of the greens. The little things that join together to help answer the big questions, all part of the necessary preparation for the 151st Open.
As McIlroy reached to shake hands with Lowry, the evidence of their friendship was clear. Both players smiling, joking. Money would be changing hands.
On the 18th green of Royal Liverpool Golf Club, as the flags framing the grandstand fluttered, those few spectators – who’d timed their presence to coincide with the pair finishing – soaked up the natural bond of the two men, both past Claret Jug champions and both with designs on repeat wins.
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Lowry won this little money match in the 14 holes they played, just the two of them, before the rain came.
“If I finish ahead of him on Sunday then I shouldn’t be far away,” quipped Lowry. He’s not wrong.
This terrain on the western seaboard of England has been a happy hunting ground for Irish golfers. Fred Daly, remember, lifted the Claret Jug in 1947. Joe Carr won the Amateur Championship in 1953. McIlroy, of course, won the Open in 2014.
“Just because there’s been a good past doesn’t mean we have any given right to do well. Look, I feel like I’m playing well. Rory is obviously playing well. The other lads are playing all right. You just hope someone gives a good challenge over the weekend,” replied Lowry when given the history of Irish invaders.
He’s right, of course. Nobody is owed anything, especially in links golf with its devilish bounces and where the luck of the draw can come into play with seasonal weather fronts moving in and out and the whimsical winds coming and going.
For Lowry, this week of all weeks is the one that gets the juices flowing. He simply loves links golf. But he knows too how important it is to be comfortable in his own skin, of how important patience is once out hitting the shots that get scribbled on to a scorecard.
“I feel like my game is pretty good. I feel like I’ve been decent all year. There has been certain parts of my game that haven’t been firing at certain times then I get one part of it back and something else goes a little bit off. I feel like if I can drive the ball well and [continue] putting like I’ve been over the last few weeks I think I can do all right this week,” said Lowry.
Lowry has been trending in the right direction on many fronts without actually getting a win so far this season. From being well off the pace in the FedEx Cup standings, he has moved up to 72nd (he needs to get into the top-70 by mid-August to get into the PGA Tour’s playoffs) and a good week on the Hoylake links could tick so many boxes, among them that FedEx Cup target but also Ryder Cup and Race to Dubai.
More importantly, there is the season’s last chance to lift a Major.
And the man he beat in the practice day money game is both friend and a source of motivation.
As Lowry put it of their respective bids for further Major glory: “You only get four chances a year and the top of world golf is so strong at the moment. Like I keep saying, you don’t have any God-given right to go out there and win or do well. It’s a battle day in day out for professional golfers. That’s what it is.
“Rory has been consistently one of the best players in the world for 12 or 14 years. Since he won here in 2014, he’s done everything in the game there is to do twice. Apart from win a Major! He’s come so close. I was sure he was going to win that US Open this year and I was happy to hear he didn’t take it too hard and he was happy with the way he played and what he did.
“He’s probably up there in the top two or three people to beat this week. People like me would have our eyes on those guys and think if we can finish ahead of those guys then we will do all right.”
This is the last of the Majors for the men. There’s nine months to the next one, the Masters. Does it bring a sense of urgency?
“I wouldn’t feel like that even though I love these weeks. These weeks get me going, they’re what I really want to play in and do well in. Next week when I’m sitting down, I’m not going ‘My God, it’s so long to the Masters’. If you take the top-10 in the world that haven’t won one this year, they’d be thinking that.”
For Lowry, this week – already so special in his career – is one circled in the calendar from a long way out.
“It’s always nice coming back especially when your name is on the trophy. It doesn’t give me any God-given right to go out and play well. It probably adds a bit more pressure. It’s how you deal with it. If I can give myself a chance on Sunday, that’s all I want.”
