Shane Lowry on fatherhood, playing golf on his home turf and his mum’s good luck ritual

Shane Lowry has been a staple on our screens for years as we have watched the Offaly native’s star rise in the world of golf.

The sporting legend has an incredibly busy lifestyle flying all over the world for tournaments and splitting his time between Ireland and the United States, but he has said that being a dad helps him switch off and stay grounded.

Speaking at the R&A’s ticket launch for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush next year, Shane told RSVP Magazine that he doesn’t find maintaining a work-life balance difficult.

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Shane first met his partner Wendy Honner in 2012 on a night out, and popped the question just two years later.

The pair tied the knot in New York in 2016. They first exchanged vows at City Hall before arriving at the five-star Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It was a private affair with just family and close friends invited.

Shane said they decided to tie the knot in the States because the guest list in Ireland was getting too big and it was becoming stressful. They announced the good news with a single picture shared on their social media.

In 2018, the couple moved to the US as the Clara star focused primarily on America’s lucrative PGA Tour. It was a move that paid off, as he won The Open Championship the following year.

The couple’s eldest child, Iris, was born in 2017 and their youngest daughter, Ivy, was born in 2021.

His family are what help him switch off, as he told us: “I don’t really find that it is [hard to balance work and family]. You know, I’ve got a wife and two kids so my time away from the golf course or tournaments is pretty much consumed by them, and getting ready for the next tournament.

“I don’t really do much else other than that. When I go back home I get to see my friends and go play golf with them and maybe go out and have a couple of drinks, I’ll do that the odd time. But my life away from golf tournaments really just consists of being a dad and then practising and getting ready for the next tournament.”

Does Shane find it hard to not let his life become totally consumed by golf?

“Yes, I do feel like at this level your life does get consumed by the sport,” Shane answered. “But my little distractions are great as well. My kids and everything they’re doing, and me doing the school run in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon, planning out activities for them, that’s really how I get away from it.”

The family split their time between their Victorian-style new build home in Rathgar, Dublin, and their home in the US, where they live in the affluent Florida town of Jupiter, home to Shane’s fellow Irish golf pro Rory McIlroy.

However, spending so much time away from Irish soil can take its toll, as Shane, who is one of Offaly GAA’s biggest benefactors, admitted he was homesick after he watched the Offaly team beat Tipperary in the All-Ireland Under 20 Hurling Championship Final during June’s RBC Canadian Open.

“It’s great for Offaly hurling, great for those young lads,” he said. “I was very proud of what they’ve done. We have a long way to go to catch the big teams but they showed that we are certainly on the way.”

He was envious of those who got to go to the match, even going so far as to say that had he missed the cut in Canada, he might have flown home.

“There was a direct flight to Dublin from Toronto, but yeah, I’m not sure I would have pulled the trigger,” he laughed. “I got off the golf course at 2.10pm and the match started at 2.15pm. I got straight into the car and watched the first half on my phone and then watched the second half in the hotel room on my own with my Offaly jersey on, sitting on the bed.

“Well, I wasn’t sitting much, I was jumping around the place like an eejit. I was very proud.”

He added: “I was homesick that day and homesick the next day. The team went back to Tullamore and they were in my bar and all my friends were there. My mother and father were there and you’re getting pictures from home.”

Speaking of home, the 2019 Open champion has said he can’t wait to return to Portrush in 2025 and reflected on how his family and friends were there to watch him play five years ago.

“That was the great thing about playing it at home,” said Shane. “If I was playing across in England or Scotland, my mum wouldn’t have been over on the Sunday or anything like that.

“To have my mum there, even at the back of the 18th green, it was very, very special. The home crowd and feeling the expectation… It’s something that I’ll look back on forever and be forever grateful that it happened.”

In the five years since becoming the Champion Golfer of the Year, Shane is currently ranked 33rd in the world and has managed just one individual win — the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in September 2022. Despite this, he believes that he will be returning to Portrush a superior golfer than last time.

“The glass is always half-full with me. I feel like I’m a better player now than I was in 2019,” Shane said when asked if he feels close to recapturing his Open-winning form. “I certainly feel like a better player than I was then. Maybe that’s just the positive golfer coming out in me.”

He added how his mum has her own traditions to help him do well, as he laughed: “My mum is quite religious and she’s always praying for me!”

The R&A have launched the ticket ballot for the 153rd Open, which will return to Portrush in 2025. The ballot runs from July 1-31 this year, with the results announced in August and September.