Shane Lowry of Mullingar, Ireland is ranked 41st in the world, and is 17th on the DP World Tour (European Tour) rankings. However, what we saw from Lowry this past weekend at the 2026 Irish Open from the Trump International Golf Links was as good of a performance you will ever see–regardless of the tour.
Lowry’s four round score at the Irish Open was -23. You see golfers post scores of -20 or better on a regular basis. Lowry’s score of -23 is not the best score ever at the Irish Open. That record belongs to superstarJon Rahm of Barrika, Spain, who was at -24 in 2017.
However, what we saw from Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, was dominance. In 72 holes, he defeated his closest competitors, Patrick Reed of the United States and Joaquin Niemann of Chile, by 11 strokes each. The 11-stroke win was the most dominant victory in the history of the Irish Open. The previous record belonged to Germany’s Bernhard Langer, who had a winning score of -19 in 1987 and beat Scotland’s Sandy Lyle by 10 strokes.
One must realize this was not the most dominant win on the European Tour in 2026. At the Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship in Spain, Yurav Premlall of South Africa won by 14 strokes after posting a score of -28. In the process, he beat fellow South African Shaun Norris, who had a second place score of -14.
This was the second time in Lowry’s career he won the Irish Open. He also won in 2009 (pictured above) as an amateur. In fact, Lowry is the only amateur golfer ever to win the Irish Open. At the 2026 Irish Open, Lowry had a first round score of three-under-par 67, a second round score of eight-under-par 62, a third round score of five-under-par 65, and a fourth round score of seven-under-par 63.
The most dominant win on the PGA Tour in 2026 came from world number one Scottie Scheffler. In August, Scheffler won the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis by eight strokes over Si-woo Kim of South Korea.
One reason why Lowry’s victory deserves praise was because of the field. It included several top names, and with the PGA Tour taking the weekend off, the DP World Tour was in the spotlight.
