This weekend should have seen the 149th Open Golf Championship take place at Royal St George's.
As defending champion, Shane Lowry would no doubt be hoping be to emulate the feats of Pádraig Harrington and his back-to-back Open victories in 2007 and '08. That quest for Lowry must now wait another 52 weeks - but he still holds on to the Claret Jug - a trophy he won in magnificent style at Royal Portrush last July.
"When you win a tournament, there are always certain points during the week that happen, where you get a bit of fortune and you say 'wow' that was a good break."
Words from the Clara golfer as he described what happened on the 14th hole in round 3. He was five under, playing that hole, but hit a bad tee drive.
"But I got lucky, the ball hit somebody on the head and came back into play," added Lowry. He wasn't about to be blown off course. He escaped with a par and then birdied three of the last four.
On the opening hole in the final round, a five-shot lead could have been whittled down to three, but Tommy Fleetwood could only manage par as the soon-to-be-champion bogeyed.
Yes, it was to be Lowry's week. The lead of five shots was restored, and with it the confidence that if the last four holes were parred, another player born on the island of Ireland would adorn one of the most famous trophies in sport.
RTÉ golf commentator Greg Allen, perhaps caught the mood of many on that Sunday afternoon when saying: "It's almost too much history for me to cope with. I'm finding it really, really hard to stop feeling really emotional about this, because if you saw these scenes it literally is as joyous as it gets."
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