Shane Lowry turned professional in 2009 and has only had three full-time caddies throughout his career, including his current looper, Darren Reynolds.
Lowry began his professional career with fellow Irishman Dermot Byrne, a partnership that officially started after he won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009, and they stayed together for nine years. During that time, Byrne helped Lowry win the 2015 WGC Bridgestone Invitational for the golfer's first PGA Tour title.
However, as Lowry's form fell away, so did his relationship with Byrne and they parted ways during the latter part of the 2018 term. Without an instant replacement lined up, Lowry's brother Alan filled in for a month or so before Brian 'Bo' Martin stepped in full-time.
That would spark a highly-successful period for Lowry as he won the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush, booked a regular spot in the world's top-50, and earned a first Ryder Cup place. Lowry also won the 2019 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the 2022 BMW PGA Championship in that time.
Speaking about 'Bo' before his final round of the 148th Open, Lowry said: "Bo has been great for me over the last year. It’s like he's given me a new lease on life. He's so chilled. He's so relaxed. Maybe he isn't inside but he definitely comes across that way."
However, in a slightly surprising move, in January 2023, Lowry announced via Horizon Sports Management that the pair had ended their professional relationship after losing their "spark" and "chemistry."
Speaking to Golf.com after The Players Championship in March the following year, Lowry admitted: “It kind of came out of nowhere. We started in the Middle East, and I had a bad couple of weeks, and we just kind of - we had a chat and things weren’t going - when I sit down and look at it things that weren’t going as well as I probably thought.
“It got to me a little bit, and I just needed some fresh - I knew, when it happened, I had no one in mind, no one lined up, so I didn’t know what to do.”
After a brief break, Lowry asked Reynolds to start at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open, and they went from there. Reynolds has worked with the likes of Paul McGinley, Paul Dunne and Roger Chapman, while he has also worked with Antoine Rozner for two DP World Tour wins as well even briefly with Lowry as a temporary stand-in for Martin.
The partnership yielded almost immediate results. After finishing T60 at TPC Scottsdale, Lowry achieved successive top-five finishes in the Cognizant Classic and Arnold Palmer Invitational, before winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Rory McIlroy.
He was also in contention heading into the final round of the second Major of 2024, the PGA Championship. He finished T6, but his performance was particularly eye-catching as it included equaling the lowest score in a Major with his 62 in the third round at Valhalla.
More impressive performances followed, including sixth in The Open at Royal Troon and ninth in the Tour Championship as he developed a pleasing habit of performing well in the biggest tournaments. That continued in 2025, with runner-up at the signature event the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and topping the leaderboard after two days of the Arnold Palmer Invitational while many other big names missed the cut.
In the same interview with Golf.com, Lowry admitted he almost didn't turn to Reynolds. He revealed: “I’ve known Darren for years. He had just started with Alex Levy on the European Tour. That’s almost why I didn’t want to ask him, because I knew he just got a new job and I didn’t want to take him away and then it not work out for us.
"But, frankly, he was one of the few options I had, and we just had a chat. He caddied for me during Covid for a few weeks when Bo couldn’t, and yeah, it’s been going pretty good.”
Considering how impressive Lowry's form has been since he and Reynolds teamed up on a full-time basis, the Irishman will surely be pleased he put his doubts about approaching the caddie to one side and brought him on board.
