Team Ireland had a PGA Tour golfer carrying its flag at the opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but it probably wasn’t the Irish golfer you’d have expected.
Shane Lowry, not teammate Rory McIlroy, received the honor.
Lowry and McIlroy, friends who teamed up to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans earlier this year, are Ryder Cup teammates who are set to be Olympic teammates for Team Ireland in the golf competition, which begins Aug. 1 at Le Golf National near Paris.
For McIlroy, a leading member of the European Ryder Cup team for years, Olympic representation has been a complicated topic in the past. He is from Northern Ireland, which does not compete separately. Forced to choose, McIlroy opted to represent Ireland (instead of Great Britain) in the Tokyo Games, and he will again in Paris.
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‘Once I left trying not to upset anyone aside, then it was actually a pretty easy decision,’ he explained in 2021. ‘The decision was I’m going to play golf for the country or the nation that I’ve always played for through my junior and amateur days and now into the professional game. And that’s Ireland.’
While McIlroy gets most of the attention for golfers from his corner of Europe, teammate Lowry, too, is a strong player enjoying a strong 2024 on the PGA Tour.
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Lowry is 10th in the FedEx Cup standings. He has six top-10s in 16 events, including top-six finishes in the PGA Championship and the British Open in Scotland.
‘It’s a huge honor for me and my family,’ Lowry said in a video shared by the Irish Olympic Federation. ‘Anybody that knows me knows how patriotic I am and how much I love Ireland and how much I love playing for my country. It’s something that I’m not sure you’d even dream about as a kid, because it’s so far out there.’
Lowry and McIlroy each played for Ireland in the Tokyo Games, with Lowry finishing 22nd and McIlroy losing a playoff to miss out on the bronze medal behind winner Xander Schauffele.