Paul’s Diary: Golf, Golf And Golf
Paul O’Connell and the rest of the Ireland squad tried to relax on their down day earlier this week by brushing up on their golf skills with some tips from Irish Open winner Shane Lowry.
On Monday night Shane Lowry popped into Carton House and spent a night being harassed by the Ireland squad demanding that he not only recount stories from the tour, but also offer a variety of quick fixes for some very dodgy swings.
The lads couldn’t get over what an incredibly down to earth and modest fella he is and great company.
Many of the questions centred on how he felt when winning the Irish Open as an amateur and not being able to pocket the winner’s cheque.
The boys even asked him if Robert Rock, who finished second but took the first prize, threw him a few quid. He didn’t but Shane pointed out that the money was never a factor because from the start of the tournament he knew it would be the case.
Understandably he was just thrilled to win and pointed out the subsequent opportunities the victory gave him.
He performed a trick shot, flicking a ball up from his foot to his hand and then hitting it with the golf club, hurling style.
Sean O’Brien couldn’t resist having a go, so he borrowed team manager Michael Kearney’s lovely Taylor Made R9 driver. He tried to mimic what Shane did but missed with his first three tries.
On a fourth attempt he connected and sent the ball 50 yards. The only problem was that the contact point had been the shaft and not the head of the club and when he turned to examine it, the head fell onto the ground.
I’m not sure that the €;10 bet that Sean had with Mick will fully cover the cost of the repairs!