Amidst the chorus of acclaim for Shane Lowry on his remarkable win in the Irish Open this weekend, it is most curious that none of the media outlets I checked (RTÉ, Indo, Irish Times, BBC, Grauniad) seemed to think there was anything outrageous that the runner-up should pick up the winner’s cheque while the winner got nothing. Many of them seemed to even think there was something faintly noble about it, Corinthian if you will. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough for the spluttering at such an iniquity.
Okay, the sarcasm detector has just exploded. But juxtapose the quasi-sympathy for Robert Rock on having to settle for the cheque when he wanted the trophy much more, with (say) the tut-tutting about the wage gap that accompanies any Ireland victory in the International Rules series. Spot the difference.
