'Disappointed' Shane Lowry reflects on his Irish Open tournament

Ireland's Shane Lowry started the 2023 Irish Open strong. By the close of the second round, he was looking in contention for the title in his home tournament. Sadly for him, he was unable to materialize the result in a performance that, in his own words, left him "disappointed."

Lowry addressed his followers through a social media post, in which he reflected on his performance this weekend. According to the player, despite the result, he enjoyed the week and the support of the fans, whom he described as "the best in the world."

This is what Shane Lowry posted:

"The Irish really are the best fans in the world. Enjoyed my week at the K Club…Disappointed to come up a little short but gave it all I had. On to Wentworth."

The Irish Open started well for Lowry, with first and second rounds of consecutive 68. With that score, he opened Saturday in ninth place at -8, five strokes behind the leaders. It was hard, but not impossible, to make up that difference.

However, the moving day had the worst of the week in store for him and Lowry could not go over even par that day. That score put him too far behind on the leaderboard, with the possibility of winning the Irish Open again almost an impossibility.

Lowry bounced back on Sunday like the big boys and repeated a 68 to finish T3 with a score of 12-under 276. He was just two strokes behind Vincent Norrman, the eventual winner of the tournament.

Shane Lowry at the Irish Open

Scotland's Colin Dalgleish, who captained the Great Britain and Ireland team to the Walker Cup in 2007 and 2009, called Shane Lowry's 2009 victory at the Irish Open "fairytale stuff." There are several reasons for that.

The winning moment for Shane Lowry at The Irish Open 2009 (Image via Getty).

It was Lowry's first opening ever on the DP World Tour. On top of that, he was still an amateur player. The icing on the cake is that it was the national open for the young player. Lowry thus became the first amateur to win the Irish Open, a status he retains to this day.

Since then, Lowry has participated in 14 other editions of the Irish Open, with three Top 10s as best results (in addition to his victory). He has also finished four other times in the Top 25. Only four times has he placed outside the Top 50 and only once outside the Top 100.

Lowry will be playing in next week's BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in England, before heading to Italy. There, he will defend Europe in the 2023 Ryder Cup, starting Sept. 29.