Lowery Lifts The Open Title.

Shane Lowery of Ireland lifts The Open title and is crowned the Champion Golfer of the Year, at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Champion Golfer of the Year / getty

Shane carded a final round round +1 over par 72 to win The Open by six shots at -15 under par, to become a Major winner for the first time;

“It’s just incredible to be sitting here with a trophy in front of me. Look at the names on it.”

“I hit my tee shot on 18, that was it, and I started to enjoy it then. It was just incredible to walk down 18. The crowd was going wild. I tried to soak it in as much as I could.”

“I didn’t even know going out this morning if I was good enough to win a Major, and look, I’m here now, a Major Champion.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying it, to be honest.”

Tommy Fleetwood of England claimed second place at -9 under, after his dismal last round +3 over par 74;

“If I could pick one event (to win) it would be The Open. It’s my dream, and it always will be. And you’re teeing off in the last group on Sunday with a very, very good chance.”

“So it feels a lot rougher finishing when you feel like you’ve come so close to what you’ve dreamt as a kid.”

Tony Finau of the USA was in third place at -7  under, following his final round of even par 71.

Shane Shines at The Open.

Shane Lowery of Ireland shines at the top of The Open leaderboard, and has Irish eyes smiling at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Shane fired a third round -8 under par 63, to lead The Open after 54 holes at -16 under par, and will take a four shot lead into the final;

“That’s the most incredible day I’ve ever had on the golf course. I honestly can’t explain what it was like. The crowd was incredible.”

“I can imagine it was quite difficult for J B to play with, but, yeah, I found it OK.”

“I know tomorrow is going to be a difficult day. I know there’s some bad weather coming in. But I’m in a good position.”

“I just have to do what I’ve been doing all year, hit the reset button tonight and go out there and shoot as good a score as I can. And hopefully that’s good enough tomorrow evening.”

I hope Guinness have upped production, there will be massive intake of the Black Stuff tonight, and if Shane wins tomorrow the supporters will celebrate in style.

Tommy Fleetwood from England is in second place, those four shots back at -12 under par, he carded a good third round of -5 under 66;

“Playing tomorrow with Shane is going to be challenging trying to control yourself in that atmosphere.”

“It’s going to be harder than for the rest of the field.”

“I’m very, very happy to have that challenge. If you’d said to me at the start of the day, the start of the week, the start of the year, you’re going into the last round in the last group Sunday of the Open with Shane and the crowd are not going to be with you, I’d have said that’s fine.”

“It’s going to be another chapter in my career and I’m looking forward to it.”

Long time leader JB Holmes, USA, has third place at -10 under, signing for a third round-2 under 69.

Justin Rose, -3 under 68 today, and Brooks Koepka with -4 under 67 share fourth spot at -9 under par.

More to follow

The Open. JB and Shane Tied at the Top.

JB Holmes, USA,  and Shane Lowery of Ireland are tied at the top of The Open leaderboard after 36 holes at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

                 JB and Shane / getty

JB, -3 under 69 today, and Shane with -4 under 67, are tied at the top of The Open leaderboard at -8 under, after 36 holes.

Shane is thinking of the pressure of winning The Open in Ireland;

“Look, I’m obviously going to be thinking about it tonight.”

“There’s no point in shying away from it.”

Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood, both players from England, and both carded -4 under par 67 to share second place at -7 under par.

Lee has no expectations;

“I haven’t got any expectations, I’m just swinging quite well at the moment.”

“There’s too much ground to cover before Sunday night, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

“Just go home and have dinner, go on holiday the next week. Do the same things. Life won’t change.”

Tommy is full of fighting spirit;

“I’m happy that I had a chance to scrap today and actually did really well.”

Sharing fifth place at -6 under par are Justin Rose, England, -4 under 67 today, Justin Harding, South Africa, -6 under 65, and Cameron Smith of Australia with his second round -5 under 66.

Missing the cut by one stroke was Rory McIlroy, despite a fighting -6 under 65 today, he was joined by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, among many others.

The Open. J.B. Holmes Leads.

J.B. Holmes of the USA leads the 148th event of The Open after round one at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

J.B. / getty

J.B. shot a first round -5 under par 66 to lead The Open by one stroke at Royal Portrush Gold Club;

“I was very confident going in, I felt like I was hitting it really well. I felt like we had a good plan, good line on the golf course.”

“You don’t expect to shoot that but I’m not surprised.”

“Every time you play in an Open, you’re going to have unique conditions where it’s going to be windy and more than likely rainy. You just have to accept those conditions and the more you can do that and just try to play one shot at a time, that’s really kind of the secret.”

“Try not to get too aggressive because it is so windy you can’t always have complete control over your ball.”

“It’s a unique experience every time you get to come over here.”

Keeping the Irish happy was Shane Lowry, sitting in second place at -4 under par, Shane erroneously refers to the competition as the British Open;

“It’s the British Open, it’s in Ireland, I’m playing well, I feel like I should come up and do well.”

13 players are then tied in third spot at -3 under par following first rounds of 68.

Two casualties of the first round were Rory, +8 over and Tiger at +7, they are unlikely to make the cut.

The Open.McIlroy Makes A Mess Of It

Rory had dreamed of this day, playing The Open at his home course, Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, but it turned into a nightmare.

Rory / getty

After a great reception from the local supporters on the first tee Rory unfortunately proceeded to hook his opening tee shot into internal out of bounds. His provisional ball ended up in some tough rough. He ended up starting the day with an 8 on the opening hole of the day.

It did not get much better for the rest of the round, finishing with a 7 on the par four 18th, for an opening round of +8 over par 79;

“It was obviously a disappointing day.”

“I didn’t put it in the fairway enough to play. I kept saying that in the press conference, you need to put the ball in the fairway here if you want to do well.”

“I didn’t do that enough to create enough scoring opportunities.”

Rory in 2005, aged 16, breaking the Portrush low round record, shooting -10 under 61.

On a personal note I dislike links courses where there is internal out of bounds markers. Links golf is supposed to be, hit the ball, go and find it, and hit it again. The only out of bounds on a links course should be the outer perimeter of the property.

Marathon Classic. Sei Young Kim Wins.

Sei Young Kim of South Korea wins the Marathon Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club.

Sei Young / getty

Sei Young shot a final round -6 under par 65 to win the Marathon Classic by two strokes at -22 under par;

“I really wanted another win, especially this week, because the last two weeks I play really bad.”

“I haven’t had a win the major tournament yet.”

“I think I try too much when I play the major tournament. I just play the same as regular tournament, even major.”

“Just let it go. Let it happen.”

In second place was Lexi Thompson of the USA, at -20 under par, carding a last round -5 under 66 not quite enough to get her into the winners circle;

“She played some amazing golf, I didn’t have my best ball-striking day, but five under, finished well.”

“She played amazing. It’s very well deserved.”

Stacy Lewis was third with a final round -5 under 66 and a total of -16 under for the tournament;

“It was a lot of fun, more putts have gone in this week than in the years past.”

“It was nice to give my family something to cheer for.”

John Deere Classic. Maiden TOUR Win for Dylan Frittelli.

Dylan Frittelli of South Africa gets his maiden PGA Tour win, the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Illinois.

Dylan carded a final round -7 under par 64 to win the John Deere Classic by two strokes at -21 under par;

“I don’t want to say it was easy out there. It just felt a whole lot easier than it has been the last few weeks.”

“I calmed my nerves down.”

Russell Henley, USA, was second at -19 under, with  a marvelous last round -10 under par 61;

“If you would have told me at the start of the day, `We’ll give you 66, I’d have said, that’s pretty good.”

“So to get five better than that is really awesome.” 

In third position was Andrew Landry, USA, he could only manage a last round of -2 under 69, to finish with a -18 under total for the tournament.