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PORTURSH, Northern Ireland — On the strength of a final-round 72 Sunday, the Republic of Ireland’s Shane Lowry won the 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush in a six-shot romp over runner-up Tommy Fleetwood.
The win is the first major championship for the 32-year-old, who burst onto the professional scene a decade ago with a win at 2009 Irish Open as a 22-year-old amateur.
Ten years later, Lowry strode up the 18th fairway at Portrush to a raucous ovation, as the weather-braving crowd hailed an Irish Champion Golfer of the Year in only the second-ever playing of The Open on the Emerald Isle.