Shane Lowry: Ryder Cup triumph trumps Open Championship glory

Winning an Open Championship on home soil would usually be the career highlight for any player, but Lowry had made no secret of how much he wanted to add Ryder Cup success to his CV.

"Right now it feels better," Lowry said when initially asked to compare winning the Open at Royal Portrush in 2019 with playing his part in Europe's five-point win. "I've achieved some great things in golf, winning the Open in my home country being one of them, but this is something else.

"I'm going to put that replica Ryder Cup trophy we get right beside the Claret Jug in my trophy case and that's going to be a very proud moment for me - it's amazing."

Lowry took one and a half points from his three matches in Rome, partnering rookie Sepp Straka to victory as Europe won the opening session 4-0 for the first time ever and then being the only home pairing to lose in foursomes on Saturday.

Sent out in the 10th singles match on Sunday with just four points needed to regain the trophy, Lowry admitted he was not looking forward to the contest still being alive by the time his match with Jordan Spieth came to a conclusion.

But with wins for Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele giving the USA a glimmer of hope, Lowry won the 17th to make certain of half a point moments after Tommy Fleetwood had secured the overall win.

"It's a big day in my golfing career," Lowry said. "This is something I wanted to achieve for a long, long time and my dreams have come true.

"I'm looking forward to sitting back over the next few weeks and taking it all in. I've got six weeks off now and then I'm going to have to do my best to set some goals for next season.

"I was hoping it wasn't going to come down to our games at the back. Me and Tommy and Bob (MacIntyre) talked about it in the locker room before we went out but it did and we all showed a lot of heart and fight and thankfully came out on the right side.

"I knew going into the back nine that the Ryder Cup was potentially in my hands and I felt incredibly calm.”