Shane reminded me of Eamonn

I enjoyed watching Shane Lowry win the Open at Portrush. It was a fairytale outcome for an Irishman to win, even if it wasn't the Irishman many were expecting beforehand. I didn't bet on Rory McIroy: I haven't for some time in my bets on the four golf majors with an old work colleague. Even I didn't expect him to blow up quite so spectacularly at the start but, for me, his poor first round wasn't a shock.

Lowry's performance was impressive throughout, particularly his round of 63 on Saturday which put him in a position of control he only briefly looked like losing in the final round. That was on the first hole where a poor drive left him having to hole a tricky bogey putt while Tommy Fleetwood had a shorter attempt for birdie. The potential for a three shot swing if Lowry missed and Fleetwood holed out, nearly eliminating the overnight four shot lead, didn't come to pass as Lowry holed and Fleetwood missed. Just one dropped shot and from then Lowry kept a comfortable margin in hand, playing sensible golf in some difficult conditions, meaning Tommy Fleetwood couldn't lay a finger on him.

Lowry's approach shots were very good throughout, giving him many birdie opportunities which he often took. He seemed to have a far better feel for how the ball would roll out with his chips and pitches. He kept his drives low and under the wind. I particularly admired his drive to one of the closing par 3s which kept all trouble at bay as he built a 6 shot lead in the closing holes.

The scenes after Lowry executed his approach shot to the final green, effectively giving him seven putts for the win, with the golfer hugging his caddie and gleefully acknowledging the crowd, reminded me of another Irish sportsman, Eamonn Coghlan, whose career defining victory came in the World Athletics Championships 5000m of 1983. I have a vivid recollection of Coghlan clenching his fist and indicating "this is in the bag" while still in second place on the final lap. Some might think this behaviour arrogant and lacking in respect but, in both Lowry and Coghlan's cases, it struck me as sheer exhuberant delight.

So I checked out Coghlan's run, as it was a long time ago. You can see the final lap on youtube, with David Coleman commentating. The grainy pictures show Coghlan closing to the pacemaker, Dmitriyev, at the end of the back straight. But, to my disappointment, you can't see Coghlan punching the air before he draws level with the Russian on the final bend, looks him in the face and then accelerates away to win by some distance. I began to think it might even be a false memory. But then I spotted this in a blog about running and marathon training in Ireland called Run and Jump:

"Before the race he had decided on the point where he would make his final sprint – coming off the last bend. Reaching the top of that bend and feeling on top of the world, Coghlan clenched his fists in celebration – with 150 metres still to run and while still in second place.

Then came one of the most famous images in Irish sport. As he drew level with the Russian Dmitriyev, Coghlan looked into his face and smiled. For Coghlan, the World title was now a formality. At last he was going to win a major title. After one more half-celebration down the home straight, Coghlan claimed his gold...  "

Coghlan won by nearly 2 seconds, about as massive in running as Lowry's 6 shots in golf. And, to my relief, not a false memory. Isn't Google sometimes wonderfully life enhancing!

All very dramatic but, because of the margin of victory, not as exciting as the previous weekend's sport with the Wimbledon men's final and the cricket World Cup, where the margins where just about as narrow as they could be in either sport.

England were, of course, fortunate in the final, as they probably wouldn't have got to compete in the super over, cricket's version of the penalty shoot out or tennis tie breaker, without the unintended ricochet off Stokes's bat for four overthrows even if  they could claim to have been the best team over the whole competition. But Ben Stokes's redemption story was one of many fascinating aspects in a story line that fiction writers probably couldn't have dreamed up.

We were travelling and listened to the almost simultaneous climax of the cricket and tennis on the radio. I find team games ultimately have more drama, so would have favoured the cricket over the tennis even if it weren't for the fact that I feel you can picture what is happening from the commentary of the cricket much better than the tennis. I guess it's simply that the ball is in the air longer and there is time for the commentator to explain the scene before the next action; tennis commentary gets rather breathless and can sound garbled and confusing. But at every break for a wicket and sometimes at change of overs we switched to the tennis as Djokovic and Federer slugged it out. This was some of the best and most dramatic sporting action that I haven't seen.

So an Irish captain won the world cup for England - but never mind, the Duke of Wellington was born in Dublin and that doesn't stop us claiming him as a national hero. Indeed aren't immigrants popular when they have names like Morgan, Stokes (playing against the country of his birth), Roy and Archer? (The squad included South African born Tom Curran as well. And yes, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali but then they are simply English people of Pakistani family heritage).

While delighted by the cricket result, whether England deserved it on the day or not, I couldn't quibble with the tennis result, though I'd have preferred to see a Federer win. I don't know if the popularity of goody two shoes Federer pains Novak Djokovic but they are both outstanding champions. And so is Rafa Nadal, though I thought he demeaned himself whingeing about being seeded below Federer at 3, Wimbledon being one of the few tournaments that reserves the right to tinker with the world rankings when seeding the players. There is very little diference in being seeded 2 or 3. Nadal arguably had a harder route to the semi-final but he ended up playing the same chap. And losing to him, thus confirming the correctness of the seedings. And while looking on court as if the world was against him, or someone had stolen his dummy. All of which made me smirk.

Still a great day's sport as, on the same day, Lewis Hamilton won  a record 6th British grand prix. Another truly great champion in a great summer of sport.

It left me smiling almost as much as the Irish on Sunday.

* Coghlan on top of the world:
https://runandjumpblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/eamonn-coghlan-world-championships-5000m-helsinki-1983/.
The youtube video of the fianl lap, with David Coleman commentating, is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWCX1SxSAF4