Said he would be "mad not to" consider turning pro
Update May 21, 2009: Shane Lowry has announced that he will turn pro, and that his first professional event will be the European Open in England.
"My Irish Open win has provided me with a unique opportunity to ease myself into the professional game by playing in some of the biggest tournaments in Europe over the coming months," Lowry said in a statement. "I can now go out on tour under no pressure and just concentrate on playing golf and enjoying the whole experience."
BALTRAY, Ireland (May 17, 2009) - In front of a rabidly partisan crowd, Irish amateur Shane Lowry defeated British pro Robert Rock on the third playoff hole of the Irish Open to become the third am to win a European Tour event.
The 22-year-old Lowry finished at 17-under-par 271, with Rock, while Sweden's Johan Edfors took third at 15-under 269.
Anguished groans came from the crowd when Lowry missed his chance to put the tournament away with a four-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. But Lowry, who moved up to 8th in the
Golfweek/amateurgolf.com Player Rankings, kept his nerve, salvaging par after driving into a nasty pot bunker on the first playoff hole (his third shot on the par five was from well over 200-yards out) and winning on the third playoff hole with a tap-in par.
Rock had to settle for his second runner-up finish in as many weeks, but has a 650,000 check to ease those woes.
Lowry, already a likely candidate for the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team earns a two-year exemption if he decides to turn professional.
"I thought I had missed my chance when I missed that short putt in normal play - I couldn't believe it," Lowry told the BBC after the victory.
"Rory (McIlroy) was at the back of the green and he said a few words to me as I left the 18th green. He just told me that I was still in it and I had to keep going" he said. "This is life-changing stuff and I think I will have a busy week ahead."
Danny Lee and Pablo Martin are the other amateurs to win European Tour events.
Final scores with relation to par and earnings from the Irish Open, played May 14-17 at the par-72, 7,063-yard County Louth Golf Club in Baltray, Ireland (Note: x-won in playoff; a-amateur; earnings in euros):
1. x/a-Shane Lowry
67-62-71-71--271
2. Robert Rock
66-65-69-71--271
3. Johan Edfors
64-70-68-71--273
4. Nick Dougherty
66-67-73-69--275
4. Marc Warren
67-69-71-68--275
6. Alastair Forsyth
67-68-71-70--276
7. Roope Kakko
66-67-76-69--278
8. Thomas Levet
67-66-73-73--279
8. Brett Rumford
73-66-72-68--279
10. Richard Bland
71-68-71-70--280
10. Anthony Wall
72-68-71-69--280
10. Chris Wood
69-67-76-68--280
13. Jamie Donaldson
66-65-78-72--281
14. Darren Clarke
71-68-73-70--282
14. Rafa Echenique
69-67-75-71--282
14. David Horsey
70-67-78-67--282
14. Pablo Martin
70-65-77-70--282
14. Andrew McLardy
69-66-77-70--282
14. Oliver Wilson
66-68-76-72--282
20. Rafael Cabrera-Bello
67-69-79-68--283
20. Anders Hansen
68-68-76-71--283
20. Thongchai Jaidee
69-70-72-72--283
20. Michael Lorenzo-Vera
69-69-73-72--283
20. Graeme Storm
70-69-76-68--283
25. Thomas Bjorn
71-67-73-73--284
25. Stephen Dodd
70-67-74-73--284
25. Gary Murphy
70-69-75-70--284
25. Louis Oosthuizen
68-69-78-69--284
25. Lee Slattery
67-69-75-73--284
30. Soren Kjeldsen
67-67-78-73--285
30. Pablo Larrazabal
68-70-76-71--285
30. Paul Lawrie
66-66-77-76--285
30. Gary Orr
68-67-74-76--285
30. Lee Westwood
68-66-77-74--285
35. Paul Broadhurst
71-69-73-73--286
35. David Drysdale
69-68-80-69--286
35. Shiv Kapur
66-71-76-73--286
35. Simon Khan
72-68-74-72--286
35. Charl Schwartzel
72-67-72-75--286
35. Mads Vibe-Hastrup
72-68-77-69--286
41. David Carter
71-69-73-74--287
41. Simon Dyson
71-68-80-68--287
41. Martin Erlandsson
68-72-73-74--287
41. Niclas Fasth
71-68-78-70--287
41. Marcus Fraser
69-71-76-71--287
41. Peter Hedblom
68-72-77-70--287
41. Raphael Jacquelin
71-66-75-75--287
41. Maarten Lafeber
69-70-77-71--287
41. Colin Montgomerie
70-65-72-80--287
50. Robert-Jan Derksen
69-69-73-77--288
50. Ross Fisher
70-67-77-74--288
50. Sam Little
72-66-78-72--288
50. Rory Mcilroy
69-68-76-75--288
50. Jose Maria Olazabal
71-67-75-75--288
50. Jarmo Sandelin
70-70-74-74--288
50. Patrik Sjoland
73-67-73-75--288
57. Soren Hansen
71-68-79-71--289
57. Damien Mcgrane
69-71-75-74--289
57. Alexander Noren
70-70-79-70--289
57. Marcel Siem
69-68-78-74--289
61. S.S.P. Chowrasia
74-66-79-71--290
61. Gregory Havret
70-66-79-75--290
61. José Manuel Lara
67-68-77-78--290
61. Paul Waring
72-67-80-71--290
65. Julien Clement
67-70-75-79--291
65. Steve Webster
70-68-77-76--291
67. Emanuele Canonica
69-70-77-76--292
67. Paul Mcginley
71-68-77-76--292
69. Gary Lockerbie
69-70-77-77--293
70. Wil Besseling
69-66-79-80--294
71. a-Pedro Figueiredo
72-67-78-79--296
72. Michael Jonzon
71-69-78-81--299