Irish PGA star Shane Lowry ends the year on a high as he creates a unique record
Shane Lowry may not have capped off his 2024 season with a win in the Tour Championship, only placing in a tie for ninth, but he did do something impressive to close out the season. In all events this year, Lowry had 359 holes in a row where he did not three-putt once.
When the golfer got to the green, it took him two or fewer putts on all 359 of those holes. That's something most golfers have not done this year. Not even Scottie Scheffler, the world number one who earned seven wins in 2024, can claim that.
Lowry didn't have the most successful season, winning once and finishing in the top 10 seven times. That win was in a unique event, the Zurich Classic. He partnered with Rory McIlroy in that one to capture the trophy.
However, despite not winning very often, Shane Lowry had one of the most impressive putting seasons this year. Golfers are often skilled in different areas, but putting is one of the most important.
It's the final step to getting the ball in the cup, which determines the score. Lowry made sure he never had an abysmal hole on the green all year long.
Shane Lowry reportedly begged to cut ties with sponsor
Shane Lowry has many sponsors. One of them is Kingspan, which made some of the insulation that reportedly played a role in a 2017 fire that claimed the lives of 72 people. Lowry had signed on to their contract just one month earlier.
Seven years later, calls for Lowry to shed the sponsor have not ceased. In the wake of the accident, Kingspan released a statement in which they said (via Mirror):
"The Grenfell Tower fire was a tragedy that should never have happened, and Kingspan supports the crucial work of the inquiry to determine what went wrong and why. We extend our deepest sympathies to the bereaved families and survivors."
The controversy did not end there, as a committee member of the Grenfell United group, Ed Daffarn, has been writing to Lowry for a long time, begging him to get rid of Kingspan:
"We've been writing to him for years, saying get this sponsorship off your arm. It's deeply upsetting and deeply offensive, and he doesn't reply to us. This is where all that stops."
More findings from that 2017 fire are set to be published this week, and there could be tough times on the horizon for the company. Daffarn wants to see Lowry leave them in the lurch before that happens.
Grenfell United has done this before, successfully convincing Lewis Hamilton to drop the brand in 2021. Kingspan is just one of a few sponsors that Shane Lowry currently has.