He came so close.
Shane Lowry cut a clearly heartbroken figure last night, after narrowly losing out to Sepp Straka at the Truist Championship.
Lowry went into the final round in the elevated PGA Tour event level with his 2023 Ryder Cup teammate, but bogeys on 16 and 18 meant it was a disappointing level-par round from the Offaly man and gave the Austrian a two-shot win.
But there was one huge positive to take from the round, as it catapulted Lowry into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time in his career, pushing out Viktor Hovland.
The Clara man now sits in 10th, with Straka in ninth and Hovland one behind him.
However, the achievement does come with an asterisk beside it, given that LIV Tour golfers do not receive world rankings points for LIV events.
Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for seventh, six shots off the lead.
When asked about his friend Shane after the round, he said: “I’ve seen a big difference in Shane since he started living here full-time. We practice and play together so much at home. Just the back and forth from Ireland is tough. Even this time of the year, it’s still hard to practice over there.
“I just feel like I’ve seen such a big improvement in his consistency week to week because of where he lives, being able to practice in great conditions on great golf courses, get in games with the likes of myself or Rickie or JT or whoever lives down in Jupiter.
“It’s been amazing as his friend to see him play so well and so consistently. I’m going to hang around here and hopefully see him get the job done.”
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