Two years ago, Shane Lowry acted as peacemaker-come-bouncer as Rory McIlroy’s frustration boiled over on Saturday evening, shortly after Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark put an end to his hopes of a perfect five at Marco Simone.
Fast-forward to Bethpage Black and Lowry once again had his close friend’s back as tensions boiled over on Saturday evening, but this time, it was Lowry’s golf clubs rather than his brawn doing the talking.
When Bethpage was announced as the host venue 12 years ago, hostility was expected, but downright nastiness was feared. The fears were proven just, and McIlroy, as the biggest star in the enemy ranks, was the lightning rod.
Reports from the ground suggested that the abuse, primarily hurled in McIlroy’s direction, didn’t just cross the line, it went way, way beyond it.
Celebrating the opposition’s misfortune is one thing, but getting personal is another. And after being close to flawless for three matches, it was finally getting to McIlroy. We saw shades of it on Friday afternoon, where McIlroy gave a spectator – or a set of spectators – a one-fingered salute, and again on Saturday morning when he stepped off a shot to tell the gallery to “shut the f**k up,” then proceeded to hit one of the best shots of the week to close out his foursomes match.
But there’s only so much a man can take. And, in the middle of the afternoon fourball session against Justin Thomas and Cameron Young, McIlroy reached his limit and his eyes told the story long before his play followed suit. He was shaken, and in need of help.
The previous afternoon, he’d done almost all of the heavy lifting in the halved match between Lowry and himself and Sam Burns and Patrick Cantlay, and it was time for Lowry to return the favour. And return it he did, by shouldering his share of the abuse, and by giving his fair share back, both in terms of verbals and gesticulations towards the crowd and by sinking clutch birdie and par putts to steady the ship while McIlroy was lost at sea.
And by doing so, he allowed his partner time to reset, to refocus, and to reassert himself on the match.
But once he was back in it, it was very much a team effort as they combined to birdie 14 (McIlroy), 15 (Lowry), 16 (McIlroy), 17 (Lowry) and the Offaly man had another short birdie chance on 18 that ultimately wouldn’t be needed.
“Just really happy that I’m able to walk inside the ropes with this man, and he was there for me today,” McIlroy said afterwards. “Yeah, I said it in the previous interview but all the credit for this win today goes to Shane.”
When asked about the level of abuse he’d suffered, he opted to keep his counsel, merely stating that it was a challenge and that he’d sleep well tonight.
The level of European performance has been off the charts, but there was a real threat in the middle of the round that the four afternoon matches could swing in the United States’ favour and they’d take all the momentum into the Sunday singles.
Each player played their part in the ultimate 3-1 session success from the Europeans, but it was Lowry who refused to let the pendulum swing America’s way in the leadout match.
“Look, we knew what we were going to get coming here,” Lowry said. “It was a very tough day. Being out with Rory doesn’t make it any easier. I think he’s getting the brunt of it.
“But yeah, look, I think we dealt with it very well. You know, I said at the start of the week, I don’t know what way I’m going to deal with it but I’m going to be myself and I was myself out there today and thankfully that worked.”
Europe now take a record lead into the singles and it’s almost certainly a matter of when, not if they get to the all-important 14.5-point mark. They’ve walked into the lions’ den, taken on the cream of America’s golfers and the dregs of America’s galleries, and are almost out the other side. They’re bruised but not broken, scraped but battle-hardened, and they’re on the cusp of achieving what McIlroy himself described as the “hardest thing to do in golf.”
All that remains is to finish the job.
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