Labelling Shane Lowry a 'bottler' is utterly scandalous

It could be considered by some as a reckless request because there are definitely times when players shouldn’t be approached - hence why the press officer felt it was wise to double-check - and, if they are, there’s a chance that you’d get a response that won’t exactly be either warm or welcoming.

Lowry himself has almost certainly given some of my Irish colleagues and others, too, the odd earful and brush off after a disappointment over the years, but, in fairness, this didn’t seem as though it would be one such occasion.

It was the first event of the new calendar year on the DP World Tour and, in January out in the United Arab Emirates, you always get the feeling that players are approachable, unlike, for example, in the week of a major and that, of course, is totally understandable.

On seeing us standing outside the recording tent and hearing that we’d like a word, Lowry actually laughed and said something along the lines of “where the f*** were you all yesterday after I’d played so well?”

He duly spoke openly about what had been a sore ending to his week as victory went instead to Spaniard Nacho Elvira and one of the great things about Lowry is that he doesn’t shy away from things, meaning he says it as exactly as it is.

“That was a disaster - that's what that was,” he admitted. “What can you do? You have to just learn from it and move on, lads. This game is nuts. I've just started my 18th season on tour and I'll never figure it out. I tried my best, did everything I could and hit the wrong club up the last. And that cost me a play-off.”

The former Open champion probably thought that would be his biggest disappointment in 2026 - and he will now wish it was. On Sunday, Lowry had played absolutely brilliant golf to be three shots clear of the field with three holes to play in the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic at PGA National in West Palm Beach in Florida.

‘It’s the sort of comment that makes blood boil’

Out of nowhere, though, he hit a 3-iron tee shot into the water at the par-4 16th and ran up a double-bogey 6. His 7-iron at the par-3 17th also ended up way right and wet, costing him two more shots. He ended up losing by two shots to the Colombian, Nico Echavarria. Ouch!

Under the circumstances, this could have been one of those occasions when a player didn’t want to speak to the media, but, to his eternal credit, Lowry did so in the mixed zone and, boy, did he show what a class act he is in not only doing so but saying what he did.

“I'm obviously extremely disappointed,” he confessed and you could see that. “I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away. What more can I say? That's twice this year now so far. I'm getting good at it.”

He might feel that way at the moment, but seeing a comment on social media about him being a “bottler” really does make your blood boil and just remember last year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black if you don’t believe me.

Lowry finished with five straight 3s, birdieing four of the last five holes, including a testing putt on the 18th, in his singles match as he showed - in the words of one of my esteemed Irish colleagues, Philip Reid - an “inner steel that very few possess”.

Make no mistake, that was probably the most pressure a European Ryder Cup had faced since Martin Kaymer holed his winning putt in the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012, and it is absolutely ludicrous for anyone to suggest that what happened to Lowry in Dubai and now Florida, where he’d been snared before in the ‘Bear Trap’ at PGA National, was down to him lacking gumption.

He merely hit two really bad shots at the worst possible time. He’s not the first top golfer to do that. And he won’t be the last. Winning golf tournaments at any level is tough. Even more so at the top of the ladder and especially so on courses that have notoriously-difficult finishes and Jack Nicklaus created one that bites at this particular venue.

What hurt Lowry, who teamed up with Rory McIlroy to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans just under two years ago but last got the job done individually in the 2022 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, most about letting this title through his fingers is that he wanted to win for his four-year-old daughter, Ivy, more than anything else.

‘Let’s cut him slack because he deserves it’

“The hardest thing about today is I've never won in front of my four-year-old, and she was there waiting for me,” he admitted. “Yeah, I only wanted it for her today. I don't care about anything else. I wanted it so bad. Just to see her little ginger hair running down the 18th green would have been the most special thing in the world.”

Something like that means so much to a player and, while Lowry probably won’t be looking forward to being back in action in this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill after the way it finished for him on Sunday, here’s hoping he’ll get that opportunity again before too long and get the job done for Ivy.

In the meantime, let’s cut him slack because, quite frankly, he deserves it and we certainly don’t want him to change the way he is.