Unknown Irishman holds off major champions at Firestone

It was a pretty incredible closing birdie for Lowry as he fired his approach to the 18th through a tree and stopped his ball just 10 feet from the cup.

“I was just trying to get up around the green and make a 4″. “I pulled it a bit too low, and went into the tree”.

In the end it was Bubba Watson who pushed Lowry closest and the left-hander got within one with a birdie on the 17th.

“Obviously the Irish Open (which he won as an amateur in 2009) got my career kick-started but I think this is getting the next stage of my career kick-started now hopefully”.

Before his unravelling, Rose, 35, entered the final day in a favourable position and filled with confidence after making seven birdies on Saturday.

He became the first non-PGA Tour member to win a World Golf Championship since Martin Kaymer at the 2011 HSBC Champions.

“I couldn’t believe it landed where it did”.

Britain’s two Olympic representatives, as things stand, would be Justin Rose, who faded in the final round to finish third at Firestone, and World No 25 Danny Willett.

Both Rose and Furyk finished up 7-under for the tournament and in a tie for third. Not pars. Birdies.

Lowry shot a 4-under-par 66 on the South Course at Firestone Country Club to finish at 11-under 269.

At the 14th, he drove into a bunker but holed a key putt for par from 15 feet.

He also related for second in 2012 after number 1 a lot of the approach, merely to create a double-bogey throughout the 18that gives the best results for your skin problems hollow to shed by one to really Keegan Bradley.

Faced with a tricky lie up against the collar of the rough near the 17th green, he managed to get up-and-down to keep his momentum.

Graeme McDowell couldn’t maintain his push for the WGC crown, the Ulsterman slumping to a three-over par 73 for a one under par total.

Lowry had qualified eight previous times for the WGCs, and he famously took out Rory McIlroy in the first round of the Match Play in 2013. “I played as good of golf as I have ever played the last four days”.

After sweating the world rankings to simply earn a spot in this week’s 77-man field, Lowry used the opportunity to announce his newfound presence among the game’s upper tier, now projected to crack the top 20.

When the rubber hit the road during Sunday’s final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Shane Lowry won his first PGA Tour event. He had accepted special temporary status earlier this year.

“I nipped it, took paint off the ball and cut it with a 63-degree lob wedge and it just bounced”. He opened the face of a pitching wedge to hit over a 50-foot tree and made birdie. That’s what I should have done.

“Tell Lowry that shot was unbelievable”, Watson said afterwards.

Masters and U.S. Open champ Jordan Spieth shot 66 and tied for 10th, his fifth straight top 10 during a stretch in which he has won four times.