Shane Lowry ranked among Ireland’s most influential sports stars on social media

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Shane Lowry

Former Open champion Shane Lowry may not be the most fashionable of Irish sports stars, but he holds a surprisingly big slice of the pie regarding social media influence.

Lowry shot to prominence when he won the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur and 10 years later claimed the biggest win of his career.

Individual sportspeople dominate the top of the list when it comes to Irish sports stars with the most social media influence despite the huge popularity of team sports in Ireland.

Lowry himself is a big fan of Clara GAA, his hometown Gaelic sports club, and he will often wear black and white in tribute to them.

Lowry ranks fourth on the overall list of most influential Irish stars behind MMA superstar Conor McGregor, Pro-wrestler Becky Lynch and boxer Katie Taylor.

The mixed martial artist McGregor has amassed a following of a whopping 46.2 million fans. His social media can be a bit of a wild ride as he treats his followers to scenes of his fights and day-to-day engagements, spanning luxury outings in incredible locations to preparing a hotdog.

Becky Lynch is the only other Irish sporting star who can lay claim to having more than a million followers, something she has achieved five times over with 5.6 million tracking her Instagram account. She is known to share her wrestling victories and philanthropic activities to the admiration of her fans on the social media platform.

Popular women’s boxer Katie Taylor has surpassed Lowry to become the new number three on the list despite her recent stunning loss to Chantelle Cameron.

Lowry ranks fourth in terms of social media influence, although he hasn’t enjoyed too many high-profile successes in recent seasons.

Lowry defeated Richard Sterne by one stroke to win the Abu Dhabi Championship in January 2019 to kick off what would be his best season. He was three strokes ahead of Sterne after three rounds, but after the first 11 holes of his final round, he was two over par. But Lowry prevailed because Sterne had two bogeys in the last seven holes, while he ended with three birdies.

He shot consecutive opening rounds of 67 in July to take a share of the 36-hole lead in the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. At eight under, he and J. B. Holmes were tied. After that, Lowry scored a new course record of 63 to take a four-stroke lead at the end of the third round. He would prevail in the competition by six shots over Tommy Fleetwood, who ended second.

Lowry was part of the victorious European Ryder Cup team that secured a memorable victory in Rome with the Irishman going 1–1–1, including a half in his Sunday singles match against American star Jordan Spieth.

He won his most recent title in September 2022 when he took the BMW PGA Championship after a final round 65 that saw him pip Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm by one shot for his sixth professional crown.

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