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ITALIAN OPEN

October 9, 2019

Shane Lowry

Rome, Italy

BRIONY CARLYON: Delighted to be joined by the current Open Champion, Shane Lowry.

Shane, you have a big smile on your face and you're back in Italy. You must be happy. How was your week off last week?

SHANE LOWRY: My week off was nice, yeah. I didn't do that much. I had -- yeah, Wendy was away for the week, so I was daddy duties for the week, and it was nice. It was nice to kind of just get away from golf for a few days again. I felt like I had a decent couple of weeks in Wentworth and the Dunhill. I was pretty happy with how my game was, and yeah, excited to be back in Italy.

BRIONY CARLYON: Back, as well, for another Rolex Series. You already won this year in Abu Dhabi and performed in the big events, as well, at the majors, and Fran, as well, with his history at this event and Open Champion last year, how much are you looking forward to being here and the challenge?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I'm excited to be here. I was excited when I seen the draw. Playing with Fran around here will be pretty good. There should be some nice crowds and it's exciting. It's a good, strong golf course here.

You know, it's -- what would I say, not Italian, but it's very -- you know, it's similar to what courses I would have played before when I came to Italy. And you know, I'm staying in the city in Rome, getting to do some touristy things in the evening.

It's just a nice event, and it's going to be an exciting week. Hopefully I can play well and give myself a chance at the weekend.

Q. North of Ireland, Abu Dhabi, States, Portugal; how is Italian life treating you?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, Italy is great, isn't it. I love coming here. We actually came to Italy on our honeymoon, so it's a place I like coming, and obviously great food, great people.

Rome, I've never been to Rome, so it's nice to be in the city and take a stroll around there in the evenings. I'd like to add that to the list, as well, it would be pretty nice.

Q. When you arrive at events now, obviously you're a major attraction, a lot more press, a lot more stuff from the fans. Is that something you enjoy and embrace?
SHANE LOWRY: I feel like I've taken it in my stride pretty well. I went to the States after I won The Open and there was a bit to do there. But when I came back to Wentworth, it was fairly full on and you know, Dunhill's obviously a bit of a different week.

At Wentworth, I realised, wow, this is a bit different than what I'm normally used to. I really do feel like I've taken it in my stride. To be honest, I went away from the week at Wentworth feeling like I didn't feel any -- I didn't feel any different than what I felt sort of at an event playing before I won The Open.

So it was nice to have that feeling going away, and you know, I don't feel like I've changed. I don't feel like my game has changed. I just feel like me, and you know, I'm happy with that.

Q. Jon Rahm went to No. 1 in The Race to Dubai last week. What's your motivation?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, look, obviously I'd love to pass him out this week, but ultimately, it's just going to matter who is No. 1 at the end of November.

I've got plenty of events left. I feel like my game is good enough. I feel like I can give it a good go. Look, I'm very excited about it. It would be a great end to what has already been a great year for me.

Look, if I win The Race to Dubai, it will be great. If I don't, I'm not going to sit home and cry about it, but obviously it would be a huge thing for me to achieve. So I'm going to give it my best every day to shoot the best scores I can to, you know, at the end of the year, hopefully win that trophy.

Q. When you said you came to Italy for honeymoon, whereabouts did you go?
SHANE LOWRY: We went to a place in Tuscany, between Sienna and Florence, a really nice kind of vineyard, estate. It was pretty nice. We spent ten days there. Didn't really do much. It was one of those places, it was kind of -- you know, it was just a really top five-star hotel and in a vineyard. It was really good.

Q. What's the secret to being a fantastic chipper?
SHANE LOWRY: I suppose the main thing for me is just the time and practise I spend on it. From when I was a kid, I spent hours and hours around the chipping green, and that's kind of where I kind of self-taught myself how to do it.

Still to this day, it's what I do. Any time I get an hour to go practise, it's more often than not, it's go -- I'll spend the majority of the time around the chipping green.

Q. A couple of hurling questions coming in. One from another Shane who asks: What do you think of Michael Fennelly becoming manager of Offaly?
SHANE LOWRY: I never thought I'd get asked a question like that at The Italian Open to be perfectly honest. (Laughter).

I suppose the only way is up. He's asking about where I'm from. Like that's the team I'm from. The only way is up for those lads, so hopefully it will start next year.

Q. Believe it or not we have a second hurling question, as well. What would you rather, the Sam Maguire Cup with Offaly, or Ryder Cup with Europe?
SHANE LOWRY: Well, selfishly speaking, I'd want to play in The Ryder Cup and win The Ryder Cup.

Q. What did you do to become mentally strong enough to win The Open Championship?
SHANE LOWRY: I don't know to be honest. I think just over time, playing this game for many years, you just -- you can go one way or the other. I just kind of fought very hard through all the bad times, and at the end, that kind of ultimately made me mentally stronger. I think just how my life has panned out and the way I am now with my family and stuff, I think the consequences of bad days are just not as bad as they used to be.

It's made it a bit easier to go out there and let myself perform to the best of my ability, I suppose.

Q. What is your game plan for this week, steady Thursday and Friday, or just go all in from the off?
SHANE LOWRY: Every week, you stand up and try and birdie the first and keep going from there. Yeah, play your way into the tournament.

Obviously, look, you'd love to be leading after every round, but I always feel like Thursdays and Fridays, you just try to play your way into the tournament and give yourself a chance Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon to be up there at the top of the leaderboard and hopefully then finish it off well.

Q. One silly one from myself, as a man who likes a good beard, wonder what your beard grooming routine is.
SHANE LOWRY: I don't really have one to be honest. I had it trimmed last week, that's about it. Every time I get a haircut, I get a trim.

I put some stuff in it every now and then, some like -- I've got some -- it's not a gel. It's some sort of like a matte clay type of thing.

BRIONY CARLYON: Thank you, Shane, for your time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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