Shane Lowry crushes field at
Doonbeg for record 11-shot victory in Irish Open
[September 14, 2026]
DOONBEG, Ireland (AP) — Shane Lowry gave his home crowd and
President Donald Trump plenty to cheer Sunday when he turned a
four-shot lead into a runaway at Doonbeg, closing with a 7-under 63
to break the Irish Open record with an 11-shot victory.
Lowry opened with four birdies in eight holes, one of them from 45
feet over a ridge at No. 7, and the Irishman poured it on before a
delirious gallery at Trump International Ireland.
His final act was a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th green. Lowry
began stretching out his arms as the ball was still a few feet from
the cup. The way the week had gone, it was the only fitting
conclusion.
“This is incredible,” Lowry said, wiping away tears. “I'm so happy.”
He finished on 23-under 257, seven shots better than the previous
72-hole record of 264 by Jon Rahm at Lahinch in 2019. Lowry won by
11 shots over Patrick Reed (64) and Joaquin Niemann (67), breaking
the Irish Open record by one shot for the largest victory margin.
Bernhard Langer held the record of 10 shots at Portmarnock in 1987.
Lowry won the Irish Open for the second time, 17 years after he won
as an amateur. So many great things have happened since then. Lowry
won the British Open at Royal Portrush in 2019, and he holed the
clinching putt for Europe when it won the Ryder Cup last Septembe r.
“I said walking down the last, obviously Portrush was incredible,
last year was incredible, and I feel like I can’t better it,” Lowry
said. “But look at this.”
It had not been the smoothest year. Lowry had the Cognizant Classic
in hand at PGA National in Florida when he made a mess at the end
and tied for second. Lowry did not have another top 10 all year
until his blowout performance at Doonbeg.
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Shane Lowry of Ireland celebrates winning the Irish Open at Trump
International Golf Links in Doonbeg, Ireland, Sunday, Sept. 13,
2026.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
“He had a big chance earlier this year at the
Cognizant. I felt like he never got going with his season after
that. Knocked him back a little bit,” Rory McIlroy said after he
closed with a 67 to tie for 41st. “To see him in contention out
there, obviously the whole country would love to see him get it
done, me included.”
It was never in question on a cloudy day along the
Atlantic coast, where Trump watched from a box seat while wrapping
up his weekend trip to Ireland.
Reed started 10 shots behind and ran off six birdies in 10 holes,
but none after that, to tie for second and expand his lead over
McIlroy in the Race to Dubai.
Lowry's victory margin was the second-biggest on the European tour
this year. Yurav Premlall of South Africa won by 14 shots against a
weak field at the Catalunya Championship in May.
“I just don't do things half-measures,” Lowry said with a grin. “I
can't believe I'm standing here on top of the leaderboard. I said to
my caddie — I didn't know how I was doing — I said to him on 14
after I holed that birdie putt, ‘How are we doing? How far ahead are
we?’ He said, ‘Far enough.’ So I was happy with that.”
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