Jon Rahm was the eighth Irish Open champion to win the Masters — a 13th green jacket for men who have also tasted success on our shores.

From Seve Ballesteros, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, José María Olazábal, Nick Faldo and Sergio Garcia to the big Basque, the list of players to do the double is jaw-dropping.

What remains to see now is whether Irish Open champions Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry can join this exclusive club or whether Seamus Power has the game to join Lowry, McIlroy and Harrington as an Irish Open champion and Major winner.

McIlroy, worn down by expectations, saw yet another Masters "plan" stillborn on the pristine fairways of Augusta National.

His haunted expression in that second round 77 contrasted starkly with Rahm's steely determination and he must go back to the drawing board a find a way to overcome the emotional challenge he faces every time he drives down Magnolia Lane.

Both Lowry and Power were undone by Augusta National over the course of a long Masters Sunday, but both were surprisingly upbeat in the immediate aftermath of what turned out to be a disappointing day.

Lowry –third last year— was initially crestfallen as he put himself in position to make a back nine charge that might have added to the pressure on Rahm and Brooks Koepka.

But while he was left needing to do too much and paid the price of pushing too hard as approach shots to the 14th and 15th came up a few crucial feet short, he talked himself down off the ledge in the post-round media scrum and eventually walked sounding a note of optimism about his Masters chances.

He was tied fifth for greens hit in regulation, hitting 51, just one fewer than Rahm.

In the final round, he hit 14 greens in regulation, ranking second with Rahm and Russell Henley behind Phil Mickelson, who rallied with a career-tying best 65 to tie for second with Koepka.

Over the four rounds, nobody hit more fairways than Lowry and Henley with 50 of 56.

The putter, alas, did not behave as he took 124 putts over the four rounds - nine more than Rahm, who beat him by 10 shots.

"It just shows me that what I've done over the last few months are the right things," Lowry said of his game, though he admitted his putter let him down,

"I'm doing the right things, and I just need to stick with that. Pretty much since Christmas, I've been trying to prepare for this. And I've been really looking at this tournament. It's been kind of in my sights, and I came here and I had pretty close to a lot of my best stuff this week.

"It just shows me that I can prepare for the big tournaments and get my game in the shape I want going into those. I've done that the last few years here and it's worked."

He has five weeks to get ready for the US PGA, where he will be joined by Harrington, McIlroy and Power.

The West Waterford man paid heavily for all his mistakes at Augusta National, but he showed he can make eagles and birdies there too.

His tally of one eagle and 15 birdies for 16 "par breakers" saw him ranked tied 12th in the field, and only four behind Rahm, who made an eagle and 19 birdies.

With McIlroy opting to withdraw, he joins Lowry in Hilton Head for this week's RBC Heritage and will have his first two weeks off since December before the Wells Fargo Championship and the trip to Oak Hill for the US PGA.

"I've heard great things about the course," he said. "It's going to be interesting up there. It's still early in the season in that part of the world, but I'm excited. Any time you're going to be in a major, you're going to be excited about it."

Lowry, Power and Harrington are all sponsored by Horizon, who last year announced a six-year Irish Open sponsorship deal believed to be worth some €50 million.

Horizon Therapeutics, which is headquartered in Dublin, was acquired by AmGen Inc for $28.3 (€26.8 bn) late last year.

The move has to go through the Irish High Court but it appears it will remain the Horizon Irish Open for the time being, with the tournament sponsorship rock solid until 2027.