Shane Lowry enjoys a pint (or five). We assumed as much after the Irishman claimed the claret jug on Irish soil in 2019 and was spotted belting out Celtic classics in the pub soon after. We got a reminder this May when, at the height of Beergate at Southern Hills, Lowry proclaimed, “I’d probably still buy them,” in response to the PGA Championship’s astronomical pilsner prices. But we got final, official confirmation on Monday morning when Lowry, hours removed from a big victory at the controversy-ridden, monarchy-delayed BMW PGA Championship, posted this selfie to Twitter.
If you don’t feel that photo in your bones, then you’ve never had a morning tee-time the day after a mate’s bucks party. Red-eyed, hat pushed back for maximum oxygen flow, possibly wearing the same shirt from the night before while clinging to a cup of coffee for dear life/like grim death. This is the visual embodiment of “struggle bus”. It isn’t jet lag, it isn’t COVID, it isn’t “the hotel air conditioner kept me up all night”. There’s no mistaking this for anything other than what it is: a category-5 hangover making landfall.
It wasn’t only the booze that was giving Lowry the headache of his life yesterday, however. The normally mild-mannered pro had a lot to say about bumping elbows with the LIV Golf fellas last weekend, and the Saudi-backer backers flocked to their keyboards to call him everything from a plain old hypocrite to a social justice warrior as he surged to a 54-hole win. We hate to break it to poor old Shane, especially in his present state, but there’s no cup of coffee in the world that will cure that.
