Offaly renames Open trophy the 'Clara' jug as Shane Lowry's local club shows off his record scorecard
The Claret Jug has been renamed the Clara Jug in Shane Lowry's native Offaly.
He has climbed to 17th in the world rankings and will be going home with a cheque for €1.7m after his Open triumph at Royal Portrush by six shots.
Lowry says he wants to enjoy the win.
He said: "In the long term you obviously want to bag up your success, but my big goal remains the same and that is to be on the plane going to Whistling Straits next year, so that's my plan for the next 12 months.
"Hopefully that involves a couple of wins along the way but this is huge for me, obviously, a major championship, my first season winning twice.
"I've a lot to play for now, well up in the Fedex Cup now which is nice, and I'm well up there in the Race to Dubai so I've a busy few months ahead of me, so I'm very excited.
"I really want to enjoy this first."
In Lowry's home county, they showed off a scorecard of Shane's when he broke the course record of his local club, Esker Hills, at the age of 18.
Here’s that scorecard Ray Molloy @EskerHills manager mentioned pic.twitter.com/DGzQj7ay5a
— Juliette Gash (@JulietteGash) July 22, 2019
Amid the celebrations, Ray Molloy, a family friend and manager of the club, told Newstalk Breakfast it was a very emotional moment.
“There were many tears yesterday,” he said. “From guys that played with him and played on teams with him in the club championship.”
“There were loads of tears and he is just one of the boys down here.
“He is so likeable and we are so pleased. We are so pleased for the Lowry family – they put in a huge effort into this.
“This didn’t happen overnight. This is a long trek for the Lowry family and for him to be able to hand over the trophy to his parents last night – it just makes us all emotional.”
Speaking to OffTheBall's Nathan Murphy after the win yesterday, Shane Lowry’s father Brendan said the win was like a dream.
"Padraig Harrington came in and he said 'will you all stop crying', that's what he said,” he said.
“Everybody was crying – you would think something serious happened.
"This is what he dreamed about when he was playing – like any young sportsman whatever sport they take up, they dream about things like that.
“And what about winning the Open in Ireland? In Portrush where he likes too, it is just unbelievable.”
He said there is “no comparison at all” to his own success with the Offaly footballers in 1982.
“I was 60 last Friday – he handed me thing and he says, ‘happy birthday Da.”
“Absolutely mental isn’t it.”
