|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN HOSTED BY THE RORY FOUNDATIONJuly 3, 2018Shane LowryBallyliffin, Republic of Ireland NEIL AHERN: Thank very much for joining us today. Welcome back to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, your 10th, a very special one. I'm just going to open up by saying there's a special presentation being made by Paddy McDermott, the Captain of Ballyliffin Golf Club, presenting you with Honorary Membership. Tell us about your experience, obviously you had the drive up. SHANE LOWRY: Drove up from Dublin yesterday. NEIL AHERN: You had said on Twitter it's worth it. SHANE LOWRY: Just when you come around the corner and towards near North West Golf Club, the view is spectacular. I played nine holes this morning, and yeah, it's fantastic out there, isn't it. We're obviously blessed with the weather and whatever you've done to get the weather so good, it's just been great. Yeah, I'm obviously looking forward to the week and the golf course is going to be good and looking forward to seeing what the scores are going to be like. NEIL AHERN: You have the long sleeves on. Did you pack for this weather at all? SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, actually I didn't have too much in my bag this morning. I sent all my case from France and I had a couple of tee shirts and for some reason I put this on this morning and it wasn't a great idea. Q. Not a lot of players in the field have probably played here this week but presuming you have played a fair amount. Can you detail how much experience you have of this played? SHANE LOWRY: I played in 2006 and that's the only time I've been here. I was saying coming in, I don't remember anything. I don't know why, but I can't remember much about it. I honestly, just -- and we played for a full week. I was excited to get out and see what it was like and wasn't disappointed. I don't have any memories of even -- sometimes you go back and play a course you've played before and it starts to come back in your head but it didn't. The golf course, it's there in front of you and it's good and it's going to be tough, and the greens, you know, the fairways are firm and the greens are firm and quick, and it's going to be a good test. Q. The winning total here, when it was a tournament here in 2002 was 7-under par and only five players finished under par. Can you see something similar or with the weather, are you going to have it easier? SHANE LOWRY: I think like if you look at the weather today, if there's a bit of wind out there -- but not that much, and it's still not easy. You know, the fairways are narrow and if you miss a fairway it's going to be hard to control your second shot. It's going to be difficult to get the ball close to the hole and it's going to be difficult to make birdies. There's a lot of run-offs into deep bunkers that are going to be quite penal at times and if you short-side yourself, it's going to be difficult. So I can see a similar -- personally I can see it's been quite similar. I think, I don't know, like I might -- I can't tell, but I'd say like 10-under would be a good score obviously. You'd probably take that and sit on it for the week and see what happens, but who knows, it could be 17-under, it could be 5 under, I don't know. We'll just have to see what happens. Q. Having been at the U.S. Open, I'm sure you're glad the USGA are not setting up the course. Plenty of room to maneuver. SHANE LOWRY: I said that last week after my first round in France. I would think they should come over and see how I golf course should be set up. If you see that golf course in France last week, it was unbelievable. It was as good as it gets. The guys who do it week-in, week-out, just know how to do it and obviously they did the same this year at Shinnecock. We've seen others -- I don't know whether I was lucky or unlucky to miss the cut, but I wasn't playing on Saturday, so I didn't get to see what it was like. Yeah, I was obviously disappointed with my performance there, but yeah, onwards and upwards, and I had a decent week last week and hopefully I can build on that and bring it into this week. Q. Can you just talk a little bit more about your season? SHANE LOWRY: Obviously there hasn't been too many good finishes, but -- or if any, but it was like, it's one of those, like I haven't been missing cuts really. Making 20 birdies a week and just, I mean, like last week, last week is a perfect example of how my season's gone: Three great rounds and then one pretty average or poor round on Friday. Some week, I'll string four rounds together and hopefully I can win the tournament or come close. That's just how I feel the season's been going. I've been trying my best. I've been doing everything I can in my power I feel to make it better and I just have to keep going and keep chipping away. Going into the U.S. Open, I felt great. I was very disappointed with the week. Then last week, I was, you know, pretty happy with the week but it was the first week in a while where I left kind of thinking, you know, I probably -- I really could have contended, like I could have won that. Obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing but I really feel like I could have contended last week in France and I was a bit disappointed going to the airport on Sunday evening, which is a good thing, in my own head. I felt that was a good thing. Q. If you could do that -- SHANE LOWRY: If I could do that, I wouldn't be here talking about not good finishes. I'm trying, like I'm doing everything I can. I'm making 20 birdies a week. I'm just making a few mistakes here and there that are costly, and at this level of this sport, you can't afford to do that. Q. Do you like your lips coming back to a links course, because everyone knows how well you play on links courses. Is it just a matter of getting into the back nine on Sunday, that you just need to take that extra step? SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm excited to be on a links course, and a good links course, at that. I feel when you come and play like The Irish Open on a links course, there's a lot of guys that are not used to playing this golf, and they are going to be -- especially when it's firm and there's a bit of wind. They are going to struggle out there when they have got 230 yards and they have to hit an 8-iron. It's just hard to get your head around that. I feel like -- sorry, I'm lost in the question. What was the second part of the question? Q. Do you lick your lips -- SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, like I said, listen, I've missed the cut the last three years at The Open, so that doesn't say that my links golf is unbelievable, but I do know how to play it, especially when it gets firm like this. I think when it gets firm and fast and fiery and a bit of wind, I think that plays more into the guys, like the Irish and British players advantage than anything else. Q. In terms of home support, it can work two ways. How are you at dealing with the expectations coming in? SHANE LOWRY: I've not been great over the last few years. It's a weird one because one of the reasons I feel like I won The Irish Open is because I knew what it was about and how hard it was to play in it as a home player. But yeah, I mean, the thing is, the Irish people are great and we're very lucky how much they love their golf and how much they support us. I just haven't been good enough in dealing with what goes on with playing The Irish Open. I'm not used to being asked to, even the likes of this. Like I don't do this every week. I don't do autographs after my round for 30 or 40 minutes every week. I don't do all that. So to do it this week is a little bit different. When you're in your own little routine and you want to just leave the golf course, this weeks you just can't. And look, the Irish people are coming up and they are paying good money to come watch us, so I'm going to stand there and give them what they want. Maybe I should be selfish and say I'm going to get in my car and go home, but I'm not a person that does that. I just have to get better with dealing with it when I'm on the course. Q. On that, would you ever seek advice from somebody like Rory or Pádraig or whatever, who have had more time dealing with it, ask them how you deal with it, or do you just think of it as a one-off? SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I just go with it. I just go. Like I've come up with a very open mind this week about what's going to happen. I'm going to go out and play golf, try to play golf as freely as I can, and like I say, when I finish, give people what they want and if someone asks me to do something, I'll do my best to do it for them and that's just the way I'm going to go about my business. Some weeks, if I go out there with the attitude, trying too hard to play well and trying to have a good finish, they can you can get a bit in your own way and your mind can get a bit -- like you said, in your own way. But I just need to go out there with an open mind for the next five days and try and play as good of golf as I can. That's all I can do, and see what happens after that. Q. There's always going to be one negative question. How are you dealing with the way things have gone in terms of your World Ranking and moving on from the past? Do you figure you're in a good place with your game, even though stats would show that you don't and there hasn't been a Top-10 finish and the ranking is drifting away in the wrong direction. How will you get it going the other way? SHANE LOWRY: Thing is with golf, and what I've been doing and what I've been trying to do the last couple of years, playing both tours, traveling like literally all around the world to play tournaments, not been easy. I feel like my World Ranking and my golf has suffered a little bit because of it. When this season comes to a close on the PGA TOUR I'm going to have to sit down and have a look at it and see what I'm doing going forward. I'm going to probably have to change something. I don't know what that's going to be. Like, I go out there every day, like I play and I practise more than I've ever done. I've tried to do everything better than I've ever done, and when it's not going your way, it just not going your way. Do I need to change something? Maybe but I don't know what. Do I need to do something different? Maybe, but I don't know what. I just have to try and figure it out for myself. I know my World Ranking is dropping but it's not like it's 500. It's 90. Look, I'd love to be Top-10 in the world, but I just have to, you know, I'm in a few big tournaments the next couple of weeks. And it's a funny game because I remember back in 2015, I was not in a similar boat but wasn't far off and all of a sudden you win in Akron and you're the best player in the world and things are going great. I feel like that's the way golf is. I really feel like I just have to wait for my week to happen. Listen, I've been waiting and I've been trying to be as patient as I can for the last year and a half or so, but my patience is wearing thin. I just have to keep at it, keep trucking along and see what happens in the next few weeks and then kind of reassess from there. Q. You mentioned that you practise harder than you ever have. What form does your practise take? Is it just during tournament weeks or the weeks you're not playing? SHANE LOWRY: What do you mean? Q. In terms of what you practise on. You said you're practising harder than ever? SHANE LOWRY: Well, I've been playing tournaments. Like I've had -- you know, I play golf. I practise and I work on my short game as much as I can. Like more often, more than anything, more than, you know, it hasn't been great for the last year and a half and that's probably where my golf has probably slipped up a little bit. Around the greens, I just haven't been the Shane LOWERY that was three or four years ago, but I'm trying my best. I'm working on what I feel is the right things. Look, I'll tell you in a few weeks or a couple of months whether they were the right things or not. As regards to what I do day-to-day, I mean, every day is different. I don't have a set routine. I could be playing golf with my mates. I could be spending the day doing -- playing golf on my own and doing a bit of practise. You know, I see that as practise, I suppose, more than anything else. Q. Do you have a specific base in the United States? SHANE LOWRY: I was there two weeks ago but I've been there since January in Palm Beach. I've been down there, basing myself as much as I can out there. But to be honest, I've played so much golf this year that I haven't been there that much. I think this is going to be my 16th event this year, which is an awful lot. I've probably spent four weeks in the house in Florida. So yeah, that's where I've been. Q. Apart from the results not being quite what you want, do you quite enjoy the PGA TOUR? SHANE LOWRY: I like it. I like living where we were. My wife loves it. So yeah, it's kind of everything is going great apart from the results. NEIL AHERN: We like having you back, Shane. Thank you very much and have a good week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|