"He was good craic" - Shane Lowry offers his tribute to Offaly hurling Legend Johnny Flaherty

Shane Lowry took a moment to mourn Offaly hurler Johnny Flaherty, who passed away at the age of 74. The Irish golfer remembered Flaherty as a great golfer and high character.

Lowry spoke at the launch of the 2024 Amgen Irish Open in Dublin. He offered up condolences and fondly remembered the character who he considered larger than life.

According to the Irish Independent, Lowry had nothing but kind words to say about the former legendary hurler:

"He was some golfer. He had a hole-in-one on the par-four second at Esker Hills."

He continued, adding an anecdote of his personal experience with Flaherty:

"I remember the first time I played golf with him, he stood up on the first tee — and Johnny was small enough — and he hit this thing off the first tee and I was like, ‘Jesus, where did that come from?' I was only born in 1987 so I don’t recall the 1981 All-Ireland (and Flaherty’s famous goal)."

Lowry said it was "sad" to learn of Flaherty’s passing, adding:

"So you know, it's sad for him and his family. And it's a bit of a shock, I'm sure, to everyone. I played golf with him a few times and he was always the type of person you'd hear him in the golf club before you'd see him. He was good craic, Johnny."

The Irish community is mourning the loss of a legend, and Shane Lowry eloquently put their feelings into words. Flaherty had a brief battle with illness before passing away.

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Shane Lowry spoke on Jon Rahm's LIV GOLF signing

Jon Rahm is officially headed to LIV Golf. The Spaniard took a $566 million deal to sign with the rebel tour, eventually putting an end to months of rumors surrounding his decisions.

Shane Lowry spoke on Jon Rahm's exit

Shane Lowry, the Ryder Cup teammate of Rahm's, believes the move wasn't very surprising. He said (via Bunkered):

"There’s no smoke without fire so we all thought he must be going."

There certainly was smoke, as rumors persisted for a long time. At one point, Phil Mickelson even guaranteed that Rahm was heading over to the rebel tour. Ultimately, that was true. Lowry added:

"[I wasn’t] surprised, as I am not surprised by anything at the minute. It is what it is now, it’s just mad to think we won’t be playing against Jon Rahm until the Masters. He won’t be rocking up to Riviera, Bay Hill, The Players – all the big tournaments on the PGA Tour. It’s just mad to think that. It is what it is. I am just hopeful it all irons itself out soon, and we will be back playing together again soon. I don’t know when that will be, but hopefully soon."

The downside to all of this is that Lowry won't be able to compete against his friend on the PGA Tour. The biggest non-Major events won't have a familiar face there for the first time in some while.