After a brilliant opening round Thursday, Shane Lowry grabbed the lead at the Open Championship early on Friday. And after hearing this, gamblers may be kicking themselves that they didn’t see this coming on Wednesday.

Lowry arrived at Royal Troon getting solid respect from the oddsmakers in the 40-to-1 odds range. And for good reason. He won the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush and has played well of late, including a T-9 at the Travelers Championship in his last start and a T-19 at the U.S. Open. But another number stands out even more.

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Lowry entered this week at No. 33 in the Official World Golf Ranking. What’s the big deal? Well, take a guess at what the Irishman was ranked when he won his lone major at Royal Portrush five years ago. Yep, that’s right.

That’s a nice stat pointed out by Golf Channel researcher Kevin Casey right there. Again, we just wish we’d been made aware of it a few days ago.

Oh, and in case that wasn’t a big enough sign from the golf gods, Lowry shot a pair of 33s during his opening 66. Yep, this thing might be over already.

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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com