Did you watch the Irish Open over the weekend? If not get it on Netflix. This was golf as I like it and I know I’m in the minority.
I like to get up on Saturday, and Sunday when I’m all prayed up and don’t need to go to church, flip on The Golf Channel and watch what will seldom be boring, unless they are playing in Spain that is…the European Tour.
What never gets in the polls of best golf announcers are the undisputed heavyweight champs in the ”let’s send it out to 15″ group–that is Scotland’s Renton Laidlaw and Dougie Donnelly. These two make me laugh with fewer words than any two humans possible.
Like when they exchange:
“Don’t cough on me Rent, you might be spreading the swine flu.”
OR
“Dougie you’re awfully quiet today, a little too much of the grape last night perhaps?”
I also love the way they call out the nationality of the golfer, for better or worse…like:
“And another VICIOUS lip-out for the Spaniard!!!”
OR
“The motorway behind the green seems to be off-putting to the Irishman”
They don’t feel the need to talk the entire time and give their audience some credit for knowing a little about how golf 
is played…totally foreign to us, pun intended.
The weather was pure Ireland, cold and rainy. The contestants were Irish, Northern and Regular, Scottish, Swedish, English, Spanish, and French. But the story of course was Shane Lowry of Northern Ireland or Narn’ Iron’ if he were to say it, a 22-year old amateur known well to Europeans as a phenom…and he more than proved it.
The fact he had to pass on the half-million Euros after winning in a playoff was such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, I just hope he realizes that in his youth and holds on as an amateur for a little longer…at least until the Walker Cup at Merion.
Padraig with his three majors, Rory in Dubai, and now Shane? What’s next…we need to pay attention to find out…and I for one can’t wait.
If you don’t normally watch the European Tour do yourself a favor and give it a try, where you just might hear:
Renton: “This putt reminds me of an Irish Setter I had as a lad”
Dougie: “Rent, you were never a lad”
One of your better posts Rick old boy, but as a ‘Norn Irn’ native I must point out that Shane Lowry is from Clara in County Offaly, deep in the Republic of Ireland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Offaly
Although unrelated, it is claimed your new President’s great grandfather also hailed from Co. Offaly, and the local radio station was recently re-named ‘Obama FM’.
David Feherty still rules.
I didn’t know you could read and you should know that as one of Irish descent myself, I never let a small fact get in the way of a good story.