A few hours after Shane Lowry claimed victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, Padraig Harrington was claiming one of his own in the US.
Harrington won the Ascension Charity Classic in St Louis by a shot from YE Yang to take the $300,000 first prize. It's Harrington's third victory on the Champions Tour this year, adding to his wins at the US Senior Open in June, and the Dick's Sporting Good Open in August.
Post-victory, Harrington tried to give his good friend Lowry a call to see how the celebrations were going.
"I'd be shocked if he's not still going," said Harrington.
"If Shane is not still partying, I'm not happy or else he's not answering my phone call at 3:30 in the morning. Either way, I'm not impressed with him.
"I'm assuming there must be a problem with the connection. There's no way he wouldn't be answering.
"Good God, he's a lightweight. He must have gone to bed.
"I did get to watch his golf before I went out. It was a nice feeling to see him win, and then you're going out."
📱 @ShaneLowryGolf, you up?@padraig_h x @AscensionCCG pic.twitter.com/F7OXUVEJcH
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) September 12, 2022
Lowry's victory was his sixth on the DP World Tour, and also his first since the 2019 Open.
The tournament featured 18 players from the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series, and Lowry said their involvement certainly heightened emotions.
"I made no secrets as to how I felt about the whole thing at the start of the week," he said.
"I wanted to go out and win this tournament for myself, first and foremost, but I think for this tour and everyone that's stayed loyal to this tour and everyone that's done everything for this tour, I feel like this is one for the good guys."
Update 👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/Oko8cZOl5F
— Shane Lowry (@ShaneLowryGolf) September 11, 2022
Lowry continued: "It's been a good year but felt like I've been close a few times and felt like I've only got a few tournaments left this season and wanted to try and win one, and obviously this one is right up at the top the list.
"I love it here and I've contended in the past, and even going down the back nine today, I was like, the bad shots that I've hit over the years in contention actually started to creep into my head and it's amazing what this game does.
"I'm so happy. Honestly words can't put into how happy I am, how much this means to me and how much I love this tour and how much I love this tournament. I'm the happiest man in the world right now."
We reckon that coffee was badly needed this morning @ShaneLowryGolf 😅🏆 pic.twitter.com/DsE6Yo41lU
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) September 12, 2022