Ranked 33rd coming into the tournament, Lowry's previous biggest wins were the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the 2019 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

He shot a course record (since the 2016 renovation) 63 in the third round to have a four-stroke lead over Tommy Fleetwood going into the final day.

After shooting a 72 in challenging conditions on the last day, Lowry was able to convert a four-shot 54-hole lead into major victory, after failing to do the same at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont.

Fleetwood finished solo second for the second time in a major, having previously achieved the feat at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

Clarke was given the honour of the opening tee shot and described the event as a watershed moment for Northern Ireland, as hosting was seen as unrealistic during the years when violence ravaged the province.

[2] The 2019 Open Championship was televised by the Comcast Group in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland (both on Sky Sports), and the United States (Golf Channel on its cable service on Thursday and Friday, while on NBC its broadcast service on weekends).

It was the fourth year of both channels airing the tournament, but the first since Comcast acquired Sky in late 2018, vertically integrating the two.

[citation needed] Specialists Mackenzie & Ebert oversaw changes to the course in preparation for the 2019 Open.

Changes included:[5] Dunluce Links – Championship tees If required a three-hole aggregate playoff, followed by sudden death, would have used the 1st, 13th, and 18th holes.

The Final Qualifying events were played on 2 July at four courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England.

Thursday, 18 July 2019 Brooks Koepka, winner of four of the last ten majors, shot a three-under 68 and was two strokes off the lead, tied for third with twelve others.

[25] Two weeks after his win at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Jon Rahm finished two shots off the first-round lead.

Four players, Justin Harding (T5), Xander Schauffele (T18), Kevin Streelman (T48) and Rory McIlroy (MC), posted a second round 6-under-par 65, the current course record (since renovation).

Local resident Graeme McDowell, and defending champion, Francesco Molinari, made the cut on number.

[2] Amateurs: Kanaya (+2), Sugrue (+2), Schmid (+5), Wu (+7), Knipes (+9), Thurloway (+14) Saturday, 20 July 2019 Shane Lowry shot an 8-under-par 63 to break the course record since it was remodeled in 2016.

[29][30] Shane Lowry shot a 1-over-par 72, with only Tony Finau scoring lower (71) out of the players in the top 10 after round 3.

Lowry had a clear lead throughout the round, and was generally praised for his composure in testing weather conditions, with some remarking about the similarity to his 2009 Irish Open win when he still had amateur status.

Note: Top 10 and ties qualify for the 2020 Open Championship; top 4 and ties qualify for the 2020 Masters Tournament Lowry was interviewed by host broadcaster, Sky Sports, where he discussed his victory:[31] Lowry's victory was widely covered in Ireland, and was featured on the front page of newspapers in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

As Lowry advanced towards victory, the crowds gathered at Croke Park for the 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final double header received updates on the big screens in the stadium.

[32] Source:[33] The leading player in each category were: Source:[34] Before the start of the championship, The R&A made random inspections of players' clubs and found four drivers out of 30 tested did not comply with the characteristic time (CT) test requirements, including that of Xander Schauffele.