V1 Interview Shane Lowry shay healy

sets the cat among the pigeons HANE Lowry wanders into the bar of the Bunclody Golf Club in Co. Wexford, stop- ping every couple of seconds to meet and greet the small crowd of fans who have turned up to watch him play a round of golf. It’s just days after his disappointing Sappearance at the in Co. Down where, A case of in a fit of pique, he damaged his putter by throwing it away before finishing up a long way down the field. Fast forward to this weekend and Lowry has recovered his poise and is game to be in the running for the US Open title at the half- way stage at Chambers Bay, Seattle. Should the Offaly man emulate McIlroy and become a US Open flute in champion tomorrow night, his nly days ago, welcome back home could even sur- by Jenny I h e a r d S i r pass Rory’s when he won. James Galway, ‘Everyone likes Shane,’ declares Friel being inter- his baby-faced manager, a rather confident chap called Kieron O’Neill. have got. He stopped playing when I viewed for The ‘Rory [McIlroy] has never really was six and then got into manage- Stephen Nolan had the same kind of appeal for some reason.’ ment, he was over Westmeath for a OShow. He was forthcoming couple of years in the late Nineties. I the mouth Given that Lowry is signed to Hori- and daring in his answers, zon Sports Management, who McIl- used to go training with him and I’d but unfortunately and uncon- roy famously and acrimoniously split go to every game with him.’ sciously, a potential hit inter- from in 2013, this particular assess- But Shane’s love for sport didn’t view went sour because his ment of the Northern Irish player’s come from his father’s side alone. responses sounded like a appeal should probably be taken ‘I probably got a lot of my script that had been written with a grain of salt. competitive spirit from dad alright but it was but also from my mum’s by Gerry Adams. There is no doubt, however, that Lowry is indeed universally well- side,’ he explains. ‘She was a Scanlan ‘Wouldn’t you say it is immoral Sir James, and all her brothers were good foot- for one country to take over liked. From the moment he burst on to the professional golfing scene in ballers, but they came up around in another country just because the the Nineties, when Offaly football other country is not so well armed? 2009, winning the Irish Open as an amateur, the 28-year-old has won a wasn’t all that great.’ asked Sir James. ‘Well, let me put Although he played rugby, football this to you – would you not think legion of fans, not only for his obvious talent but also for his down-to-earth and hurling, Lowry proved to be truly that 800 years ago what the British gifted at golf. Yet, compared to some did was immoral and kept doing it and personable manner. Reports from tournaments he plays other superstars, he came to the and it is still immoral?’ sport at the relatively late age of 13. Invoking the 800 years of British but who at often mention the length of time he spends chatting to followers and ‘Golf was never in the family really, rule in Ireland was both sweet my uncles would have played a bit,’ and nostalgic and, though it wasn’t the amount of golf booty he gives away as souvenirs. he says. ‘I started playing pitch and a song, Sir James’s interview putt in Clara when I was a kid and should be thought of as an All- Many journalists who have dealt with him since he hit the big time from there, I got decent at that and Ireland symphony. my uncles started bringing me out Last week I wrote about the dif- have been impressed by his ap- [on golf courses] when I was 13.’ ficulties that lie ahead for whom- proachability and politeness, while Joining his local club, the Esker soever is put in charge of selecting his interactions on social media are will win Hills Golf Club, after just one year of the official music for the forthcom- pretty much always good-humoured playing, he was down to a 12 handi- ing 1916 commemorations. Fine and self-deprecating. Gael and Fianna Fáil should each Meeting him on Irish soil as he ful- cap and by the time he was 15 that get to nominate a couple of songs, filled some of his sponsorship duties figure was down to single digits. with Labour taking one. And a for McGettigan’s Irish Pub Group, After school he went to the Athlone couple of wild cards for the cura- who own the nearby Millrace Hotel Institute of Technology where he got tor. and who he is there with to help pub- a Higher Certificate in Sport and licise – he is every bit as amiable and Recreation and then won a sports 1916 song unpretentious as promised. scholarship to UCD where he studied Possible Fine Gael Selection: Sports Management. 1. Rising of the Moon At 6ft tall and with broad shoul- (Michael Noonan sticking his ders, he’s a big guy, although not head above the parapet) quite as large as photos would sug- 2. Take Me Home To Mayo gest. In fact, he’s recently slimmed (Napoleon heads West for the down thanks to a new training regime. He shrugs off the idea that y 2007 he was the Irish weekend) Amateur Close Cham- he’s been possibly influenced by his good pal Rory, whom he has known pion and, two years Possible Fianna Fáil Selection contest? later, at the age of 22, since they competed together as 1. Come to the Bower (Tourism is teenagers in boys’ tournaments and he won the Irish Open important) who has noticeably buffed up in the in 2009, only the third amateur win- 2. Óró Sé Do Bheatha ‘Bhaile B ner of a European Tour event. At to become President of Ireland if last couple of years. (Help is on the way) and all that but we didn’t know the time it was hailed by the Guard- Stormont.’ he were of a mind to stand? ‘Nothing to do with Rory, no,’ he says. ‘I’ve always been overweight ian as ‘a remarkable victory by a Possible Labour Selection Up pops former Mayor of Befast chunky 22-year-old whose biggest Sammy Wilson with a riposte. and I’ve never cared, I’m happy in my 1 The Maid With The Bonny Brown own body. But I have started training ambition last week was to make the Hair ‘During the interview with cut and then get back to his prepa- Stephen Nolan, Sir James Galway a lot. I was getting a couple of inju- (As long as you remember to dye f he’s over 35 is the rule, ries I probably shouldn’t have been ration for the ’. Because it like Joanie) indicated that he doesn’t take of his amateur status he had to for- much interest in politics and per- and Sir James is 75. So, getting at my age. So I started using he’d be a worthy sucessor a physio and a trainer. feit the €500,000 first prize but later Before we begin to analyse the haps he should have kept it that that year he turned professional. way,’ quipped Sammy. to Michael D, another cul- ‘It’s something I have to do to pro- music in more depth, can we tured ambassador imbued long my career. I’ll never have a six- Since then he has been a regular ­decide what we’re going to sug- ‘I have always admired Sir on the golf tour circuit, winning the James’s work but some of his com- with the love of a good session, pack,’ he adds with a twinkly grin. gest they call this extravaganza. I ‘But I do want to keep injury-free.’ Portuguese Masters in 2012. In 2014 and a year his junior. So far we’ve got: Celebration of ments were offensive, inaccurate he finished in second place at the The royals too are a sprightly lot Shane is the middle child of three. 1916, Easter Rising Commemora- and downright disgraceful.’ BMW PGA Championship and, and in their head of a state they Younger brother Alan, 21, is studying tion, The Rising 1916, Rebel He- Then Sammy’s bitterness truly maths and finance at the National that same year, tied for ninth at the roes, The Easter Scuffle... I think kicks in. ‘Everyone is entitled to have somebody even older, at 89. Open Championship. He is currently Does Lizzie mind about her age? University of Ireland in Maynooth, something hot, like REBELAZZA. develop their unique political and he also plays golf. ‘He’s doing ranked 50th in the world. In 1916, Britain was fighting viewpoint but if they express that Well, she doesn’t have any heavy And it’s not just his professional life work and played a blinder when okay, he’s doing well in the east of The Great War on several fronts view then they should also be pre- Ireland,’ Shane says, adding with a that seems to be going swimmingly. and thousands of young Irishmen pared to defend it. she visited here. Last November he proposed, report- Back at the revolution, Sinn hearty laugh: ‘I always say Alan got joined up and went off to the con- ‘For Sir James to express his pro- the brains and I got the looks. edly down on bended knee, on a Féin will be very annoyed by tinent. republican viewpoint, criticise ‘My sister Sinéad is 30 and she has beach in Dubai, to his girlfriend of The British army uniform was a for being part of the rules that are set for another a baby boy called Cian and one on two years, Wendy Honner. red rag to any amount of bullish the United Kingdom but then ac- great honour, winner of the great the way. She’s married to Niall, a guy ‘I met her on a random night out, denizens of Dublin city centre. cept a knighthood from our mon- 1916 song contest. from Tullamore whom I’ve known nobody introduced us or anything There was no love lost between arch is hypocritical. The ‘before 1969’ embargo, would for years.’ and no, it wasn’t in Copper’s [a popu- them uniforms and civvies. ‘It is the typical hallmark of anti- scupper their high hopes for Only Shane’s parents Brendan, who lar nightclub in Dublin],’ he laughs. Should he decide to approach British social climber who cannot Our Rivers Run Free and the tal- worked for Eircom, and Bridget The couple just recently moved into flautist Sir James, Gerry Adams resist our British honours system. ismanic Men Behind The Wire. raised their family in the town of a house they bought in the salubri- will not find it easy if he hopes to ‘Sir James’s interview will have The Nordies are good ballad Clara in north Co. Offaly, where they ous suburb of Rathgar on Dublin’s take Him to his bosom. discredited him with many admir- writers. And singers. Think Car- still live. A GAA stronghold, Brendan southside. ‘We’re planning to get ‘We grew up as Protestants and ers, avowed Sammy. rickfergus, Slieve Gallion Brae and was a member of the Offaly squad married next year, no date is set as we were brainwashed to the ‘His incoherent claims will be Will Ye Go Lassie Go. when they won the senior All-Ireland yet,’ he says. Protestant ethic, and to their way viewed as the comments of some- Down here we have The Fields of final in 1982. How does Wendy, a nurse from Co. of thinking,’ said Sir James. one who is out of touch with reality Athenry, Galway Girl and Carolina ‘That was back in the day,’ Lowry Laois, cope with the fame and atten- ‘For example, we knew all the in Northern Ireland.’ Rua. says of his father’s sporting career. tion that goes with being attached to sights of London, Trafalgar Here’s a thought. Is Sir James It would make for an interesting ‘I wasn’t born until 1987 so I didn’t one of the best golfers in the world? Square, Buckingham Palace eligible, as a knight of the realm, contest. really notice any adulation he might ‘She’s OK with it, we keep it as nor- Page 2