SHANE LOWRY IS determined to enjoy his moment in the spotlight as he leads the US Open going into Sunday’s final day.
The Irishman showed superb form on Saturday to climb his way past some of the best golfers in the world and take a two shot lead with four holes to go in his third round when darkness intervened.
Now he will have to get up at the crack of dawn on Sunday and finish those holes off before regrouping for the final 18.
It is something the 29-year-old from County Offaly, the son of 1982 All-Ireland winning footballer Brendan Lowry, says he is looking forward to.
“I’ve been beating myself up over the last six months trying to get in this position,” he said. “I’m here now. I might as well enjoy it while I’m here.”
Lowry first made his mark when he won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009 — just the third amateur to win on the European Tour.
The week after that he opted to turn pro, but he found the going hard at first, his first win coming in the 2012 Portugal Masters.
But his progress has been impressive in the last year based around his breakthrough win at the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
That proved to him that he had what it takes to compete at the highest of levels.
“It obviously means a lot, because I have beat a field of this quality already. So there’s no reason I can’t go out and do it again tomorrow,” he said.
No player from the Republic of Ireland has ever won the US Open, although Northern Irishmen Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy have both won the tournament in recent years.
To join them, he will need to hold off a talented chasing pack that includes major winners Jason Day and Zach Johnson as well as three players desperate to finally bag a major title in Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson.
It will not be a straightforward task, he knows.
“We all know that this course can jump up and bite you in a split second. So yeah, I’m two ahead with 22 holes left. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
“These are the best golfers in the world behind me, Dustin and Jason. Sergio played lovely today.
“Like I said, I have to go out and do what I’ve been doing all week. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. This is exactly where you want to be.”
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Its thanks to Billy that our amateur boxing team setup and training regime is the envy of all. No wonder the US want to poach him. Without Billy we would not have had that medal haul in London 2012, and without Billy we wont be able to match it in Rio. Its not the IABA that success lies with, its Billy and his team. They’d be fools to not give him everything he wants and anything he needs to keep that success going.
The fact that our boxers stay amateur thanks to healthy funding of 40k and coaches etc all paid for helps. While boxers in other countries are forced into professional ranks in order to go into a full time set up. Here Boxers are afraid to leave the handy number in the amateur ranks, It is ridiculous that the public fawning all over a few bronze medals(third/fourth place) in a second tier competition while Andy Lee winning a proper world title goes nearly unnoticed.
Give him what he wants!! The boxers are consistently winning medals! No brainer here
what Danny said
Resolved soon.. What a joke they should ask Billy to name his price..
Excellent trainer, really good guy too.
Deserves as much as what Martin o neill/ keano etc getting. And I’ll bet what he’s asking is reasonable, his back room team as well. Smarten up IBBA.
If the Web summit is anything to go by Billy will be leaving soon.
It’s just madness that we cannot just secure this man! We have the best track record in amateur boxing in the world per capita, yet the boxing always struggles with funding! But we pump money into the athletics, for what?? So we can get to a few semi finals! Doesn’t make sense at all!
wat time is joe ward for ghtin