Shane Lowry and Padraig Harrington both return to European Tour action at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with this week marking a significant milestone for each of the home heroes.
Lowry tees it up in Northern Ireland 14 months after winning his maiden Major title just 30 miles away at Royal Portrush, where he famously claimed the 2019 Ope’n Championship in front of the jubilant home fans.
It also marks a first appearance on European soil in 2020 for the Offaly player, a former winner of this event back in 2009 – another famous occasion in his career as he stunned the field by winning his national open as a little-known 22-year-old amateur.
“As long as the tournament went ahead, I was always going to be here,” said Lowry. “Unless there was a Major Championship, I don’t think I would’ve missed it. I’m here now so I might as well play well.
“It’s going to be a lot different. We’ve played a lot of tournaments without fans over the last few weeks and it is strange. Especially the bigger events and this is going to be one of the bigger events for me. We’ll see how it goes. I’m used to it now so I’ll just get out and do what I’ve been doing, try and shoot the best scores I can and see where it leaves me.
Harrington, meanwhile, makes his first competitive start in six months at Galgorm Castle Golf Club. The three-time Major winner would have been captaining Europe this week in The Ryder Cup, but the postponement of golf’s biggest team event meant the 65th edition of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open took its place in the schedule.
“I’m injured – six months off and come back with an injury,” said Harrington. “I hit a lot of balls and pushed my body a bit too far. I’m not competitive, I’m not ready in that sense. You never would be in your first event, but I’m going to give it a shot. Go out there and play, no expectations, throw in a few more clichés and see what happens.
“I’ve had a couple of months now since it was announced the Ryder Cup was postponed where I really didn’t have to think about it. The last week or two there’s been a lot more, I’d have picked the team last week, I’d have been there. I put on my phone last night to check the forecast for Sheboygan to see what the weather would have been like – nice, sunny, 70 degrees all week. It’s on my mind at the moment but next week we’ll be back to normal business. The points start again in January and we’ll start thinking about it.”
