Why Shane Lowery Losing Matters.

The schism that currently exists in the men’s professional game is, and always was about money. When the Saudi Private Investment Fund created LIV Golf, they populated it with a variety of golfers who were at various points in their careers. And they populated it with those golfers by offering them boatloads of money. Those of us that watch the game closely understood why many of the players said yes. Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Charles Howell III were among a group of players, late in their careers. The move made sense. Again, those of us close to the game thought it made less sense for players like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and to a lesser extent Patrick Reed to make the jump. Each was a major champion, a recent major champion with supposedly more opportunities in the future. But, in the end, the money was just too big to turn down. So, they didn’t, and it was then that the separation began. It still exists to this day, although, as we will discover again this week, those major champions have still been able to play in the game’s premier events.

It's with all that said that it makes Shane Lowery’s reaction to losing the TRUIST Championship last weekend all the more refreshing. Shane bogeyed two of the last three holes to end up losing by a couple of shots. He thought, rightfully so that he had a putt on the final hole to possibly get him into a tie for the lead, depending on what Sepp Straka did. Shane missed that putt, and also missed the next one, but by then it didn’t matter, as Sepp made his putt. The CBS camera caught Shane on the side of the green, head in his hands, despondent at the result, and his performance.

Shane walked away with close to $1,000,000 for that performance but he didn’t care. What he cared about was winning. It’s why he competes. It has seemed to me for a long time that European players are just a little different than their American counterparts. They’re upbringing wasn’t quite as lavish. The courses they played as juniors and in the early years of their professional careers weren’t quite as manicured as the courses the American phenoms grew up playing. They just seem to have a different appreciation of things. Do they enjoy the monetary spoils of professional golf? They absolutely do. But they also seem to relish in the competition and the accomplishment. Maybe a byproduct of their humble origins. Again, why it was so refreshing to see Shane take the loss so hard. We could use more of that in men’s professional golf. And men’s professional golf, does in turn, deeply need that.

Here's to Shane playing well this week at the PGA Championship. He’s a major champion, but I’d have no problem with back-to-back Irish major champions. Cheers!