Shane Lowry laps the field to win a stunning second Irish Open by a record 11 shots

In sport, those with the killer instinct don’t hold back or wait for any favours. Such was the mindset Shane Lowry brought into the final round of the Amgen Irish Open where the 39-year-old Offaly man started with a four-stroke lead and mercilessly stretched his advantage stroke by stroke, hole by hole so that his second win in a tournament so close to his heart came as a ceremonial procession. This was Lowry at his imperious best, transforming a season of ifs, buts and maybes – which had created their own demons after letting slip tournaments in the Dubai Invitational and the Cognizant – with a display of controlled shot-making and utter calm as he fired a closing 63 for a total of 23-under-par 257 to seal the deal.Lowry’s 11-stroke winning margin over Patrick Reed, the number one on the Race to Dubai order of merit, and Joaquin Niemann, constituted a new record in eclipsing that of Bernard Langer, who won by 10 at Portmarnock in 1987.On a lovely calm day, with only the merest hint of a breeze off Doughmore Bay, Lowry was in his element, shooting a different kind of breeze with his caddie Dermot Byrne as the two plotted their way from tee-to-green with little or no diversions to rough or sand traps. It was a safe route to a second Irish Open win, quite a contrast to his first of 17 years ago as an amateur at Baltray which was won in a three-hole playoff over Robert Rock.READ MOREShane Lowry on the fifth hole during the final round. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images And while a number of players went low, with Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Gregorio De Leo also shooting 63s, such scores made little or no impact on Lowry’s dominance as they’d started too far behind.Jacob Skov Olesen was the poor unfortunate paired with Lowry in the last group to leave the first tee, where US president Donald Trump stood just yards from the tee markers. The Dane’s pairing with Lowry came by virtue of being the closest pursuer, but his day went from bad to worse in finally signing for a 73, which slipped him down to tied-seventh, a country mile behind the winner.Here, Lowry reigned supreme. The TaylorMade Spider Z putter, which had been akin to a magic wand in single-putting all nine holes of the back nine of the third round, remained hot from the off, as he rolled in an 18-footer on the first green to immediately stretch his lead from four to five over Olesen. And there would be an incremental increase from that point on as others took up a distant pursuit of the Irishman.On the second, when Olesen suffered the first of four bogeys in a torrid afternoon, Lowry’s advantage stretched to six. When he rolled in a birdie on the fifth it was a seven-shot lead. And when he sank an audacious 45-footer for birdie on the par-3 seventh his lead was eight and the giddiness in the crowds was palpable.Shane Lowry drives from the sixth tee during the final round. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA Wire On he went, striding the fairways as if they were his domain to close out a third win on Irish soil, following that Irish Open of 2009 at Co Louth and the Open Championship win of 2019 at Royal Portrush when the Claret Jug was claimed.Lowry strode on with a birdie on the eighth and a lone bogey on the par-3 ninth, turning in 33 and six clear of Reed at that point. But he was relentless, being the best version of himself as he added four birdies on the homeward run – on the 10th, 14th and from 45-feet on the 15th and closing out in front of the packed grandstand and those gathered on the 18th fairway behind him – for a record breaking win and one to add to his wonderful career CV of victories.Tom McKibbin recovered from a poor start to roll in two birdies in his closing four holes for a 67 for 270 in tied-fifth. Liam Nolan – making the most of his invitation in coming in off the Challenge Tour for his debut on the main circuit – shot a 69 for 277 in tied-31st, while Rory McIlroy’s 67 for 279 left him in tied-41st.