PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 5, 2020

Shane Lowry

Harding Park Golf Club

Press Conference

JOHN DEVER: Good morning, everybody, and welcome back to the 2020 PGA Championship here at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California. We are pleased to be joined by 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry.

Thank you, Shane, for being with us. Welcome to what is your eighth PGA Championship of your career. You've got something quite distinct, and that's 13 months as golf's reigning major champion. Plenty of time to celebrate I would think, but as fun as it sounds, I bet you're also anxious to measure yourself and go for two in a row here.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I mean, obviously very strange times the last sort of six or eight months, and yeah, I am the most recent major champion; although it doesn't feel like it because it was so long ago. But yeah, I'm happy to be back playing a major championship.

You know, it's nice to be here at Harding Park. I really like the golf course. I think it's going to be quite difficult this week, which is good. So yeah, I'm excited for the week ahead.

I managed to play myself into a little bit of form last week. I played okay, so I was happy with that. We'll see how it goes.

Q. Is there a certain freedom in a golfer showing up to a major having already won one?

SHANE LOWRY: Don't know because this is the first time I've done that. Look, it's kind of like you're going out there -- I think -- no, I think no matter what happened in the past you're going out there in any given week just trying to perform your best. That's kind of the way I try and do things. The only thing I can do tomorrow -- the only thing I can do this week, is go out tomorrow and try and shoot the best score I can.

Like I said, the golf course is playing great. It's going to be very difficult because it could be quite cold and playing long and the rough is thick and bad in places.

It's just going to be a difficult week, and I just feel like if I can play my best golf, I can give myself a chance this week. But it does need my best golf.

I did play well last week, but I'm one I never really try and peak for a big tournament. I just kind of warm up and practice and prepare as best I can and see what it gives me on that given week.

Look, I'll give it my best tomorrow and the next few days and see what happens.

Q. It would be really unfair to ask you about the rough based on what I witnessed on Monday. What had you heard about Harding and what were you expecting, and what's the biggest challenge you see of this week and the way it's set up?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, so I just heard last weekend somebody said that the rough was -- I think I heard somebody said they were talking to someone who played it; the rough was pretty thick, and they were not wrong. But it is quite patchy in places, so you can get some good lies but you can get some bad ones. There is a bit of luck involved, but then there's no crowds to trample down the rough where there normally is.

And courses like this, like Bethpage last year, was similar to this where really thick rough, where if you hit it a good bit off-line you're actually okay. So yeah, that'll be interesting to see how that plays.

Yeah, look, I think it's there in front of you. It's playing quite difficult. The greens are a lot firmer than they feel like they should be because it's so cold, and it's just going to be a great test of golf. It's stand up and hit your driver on every hole, and I'll try and shoot the best score I can. It's going to be difficult.

Q. The guy who wins this week will have to do what?

SHANE LOWRY: He's going to have to drive well and scramble well, I would say. Because with how windy it is and how cold it is, it's going to be quite hard to gauge your distances. Like coming from Memphis last week where it's almost 100 degrees, or it was in the 90s, anyway, and your ball is going quite far, there's a lot of distance to take off this week.

So just getting used to that over the last couple of days, that's kind of what I've been trying to do over the last couple of days in preparing for this tournament.

Q. Brooks Koepka spoke glowingly of your game yesterday, said he expected you to be right there come Sunday night. Do you expect yourself to be right there, as you said, and what are your confidence levels coming off Memphis last week? And also can you talk a little bit about the course in terms of suiting your eye? I think you liked it in 2015; and the conditions, a bit of Irish summer conditions coming up, how they favor you.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, obviously, look, Brooks is standing here, and when he gets asked about someone, he's not going to speak badly of them.

But no, I played a little bit with Brooks in lockdown, you know, when we were down in Florida at the Floridian and stuff. I obviously know Ricky Elliott quite well and Claude Harmon, and we just organized a few games, played with Stephen Grant and we had a good time.

And it's great. It's nice to be able to play with some of the best players in the world, and I was fortunate enough to be able to do that during lockdown.

But do I expect myself to be there on Sunday? Look, if I bring my best golf, I can there, but I try and lower expectations as much as I can on a week like this. I just try and go out tomorrow and worry about what I'm going to shoot tomorrow first, and you know, keep going from there.

And the golf course itself, look, it's just a difficult golf course. It's probably quite similar to Bethpage where I think the guy who drives it in the fairway will also probably win, but you still need to hit it a decent distance. It is playing very long, like there's a couple of 500-yard holes where they're playing really, really long, especially if you get them back into the wind.

Look, it's just going to be a bit of a slog out there, but I'm looking forward to it because I like weeks like this. I think it's mentally challenging. If I can get myself in a good frame of mind come tomorrow morning when I tee off, who knows what could happen.

Q. Just a quick question from last week, and well done last week, too, your result. How do you rate that par save down the 72nd hole?

SHANE LOWRY: It was interesting. Look, I hit a bad tee shot, hit it in the water and I found a decent drop where I had 190 or 180 something to the hole, and I just tried to hit a good shot and hit it to a foot, which was nice.

But it was nice because I think if I'd have bogeyed that hole or doubled that hole to finish 12th or 15th or whatever, I would have been very disappointed coming off the week, whereas feeling like I played quite nicely last week.

Look, on Sunday last week I gave myself a lot of chances in the first 16 holes and I didn't really convert any of them, and I felt like I could have been there or thereabouts when it came to who was going to win the tournament.

I was very happy with last week. It was my first week with Bo back on the bag, which was nice. It was nice to have a familiar face there. So yeah, it was good. I'm very happy with it.

Q. I don't mind to sound too personal, but how difficult was it waving goodbye to Wendy and Iris, and what are the arrangements over the next several weeks for you?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, well, it was very difficult saying goodbye to your wife and your three-year-old for 10 weeks, but like I said to them, I'm not going off to war. Like I'm going to play golf. It's not the end of the world. It's strange times in our life, and it's something that I have to do.

You know, it's not easy, but it's fine. Like I'm not going to stand here and want everyone to feel sorry for me because a lot of people have to do it in much more difficult circumstances. That's kind of the way I'm looking at it.

As it stands, I'm probably out here until after the U.S. Open because even if I don't get in the FedEx, when I have to go home to Ireland I have to quarantine for two weeks so that doesn't really make much sense. So yeah, I'm here until after the U.S. Open.

Like I said, when they were going, I said hopefully I can play some good golf and make it all worthwhile, and last week was a good start to that, so hopefully I can keep going.

Q. Just wondering are you able to tell us what Doug witnessed in the rough on Monday?

SHANE LOWRY: He was walking down by 9 fairway, and I just threw a ball in there and I said to Bo, "Let's see if a 5-wood can get out of this," and it didn't.

Yeah, look, it's patchy in places. So I was just trying out to see if my 5-wood could -- I could gouge it out of the rough. But I think when you get some bad lies in the rough, you probably have to be fairly disciplined in what you're doing. I feel like there might be a few layups on par-4s and leave yourself a good numbers and try and make par that way; that could be a good way to play it, but we'll see.

Q. What was it that clicked in particular for you last week in Memphis?

SHANE LOWRY: You know, I think it was just a combination of things. Like I feel like I've been playing good golf recently, and I've really struggled on the greens. I've really struggled with -- I've been on my own trying to figure it out for myself. I hadn't seen my coach, Neil, since March. Hadn't seen Bo since March. He obviously has watched me playing for the last two years.

So it was nice, even no matter how many videos you send to them or how many calls you do over the phone, it's quite difficult to do it when you're not in person.

So Bo just kind of said a couple of things on the putting green at the start of the week, and I feel it clicked and I feel a little bit more comfortable. Even though he didn't have the best putting week last week, it was a little bit better, and that's why I did a little bit better.

Like I said earlier, I don't want to throw too many flowers at him and give him too much press, but it was good to have Bo back on the bag last week.

Q. I think it was Rory who made a point that outside of the landscape of the tournament that what differentiates tournaments is their atmosphere. I know you know this is a major this week, but is it hard to distinguish this between some of the other tournaments you've played this year without spectators and the surrounds?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it's funny, like I played with Dustin and Phil Saturday last week. You're kind of out late on a Saturday doing well in a WGC. I can imagine if there was crowds it would have felt a little bit different. And even Sunday coming down the stretch, I sort of felt like I had a chance going out there Sunday, and to be honest, I did feel it a little bit.

I don't know if it was as much as you normally would feel it, but I did feel the heat a little bit coming down the stretch on Sunday, which was nice, because I hadn't been in the situation since we started playing without fans.

This week, will the players that have a chance on the back nine on Sunday feel it like they would do if there was 40,000 people here? Probably not as much as you might think, but I still they'll feel it a little bit. I still think there's a whole lot up for grabs, and winning one of these things for certain players can be career-changing, life-changing.

I think people will feel it. I know if I have a chance on Sunday I'll probably feel it a little bit, but it'll be nice to be in that situation. Will it be the same as if there was 40,000 people out there? No, absolutely not. But I still think everybody knows how much these tournaments mean, and everybody knows how much they want to win one of these things.

I can imagine it'll still be good.

Q. You mentioned making the adjustment from Memphis to here; how do you go about doing that? Is it just by feel and hitting shots out on the course, or do you get more scientific and use a launch monitor to help get a sense of the difference between this week and last?

SHANE LOWRY: No, I just do it by feel, by numbers on the course. I mean, like I'm not too -- I'm used to kind of wind like this and cold wind, so it's pretty easy, I think.

But on the range here, it's straight downwind. So that's not really very helpful when it comes to using your launch monitor whatever. I don't really use launch monitors too much, only when I'm trying a new driver or something.

But yeah, just out playing a practice round, you kind of hit some shots and hit some full shots in different winds, and you kind of get a gauge.

But I would say it's probably half a club. What is it from Memphis last week, if I hit my 7-iron 185 last week, I'm probably hitting it maybe 175, 178 this week, so something like that.

When you play golf in this type of wind, as well as this type of cold, there is a lot of feel involved, and the temperature can change throughout the day here. So it's important to be on the ball with that, as well.

Q. I'm wondering after winning at Portrush last year and the shutdown coming earlier this year, was there any part of it that may have been a blessing, giving you a chance to sort of catch your breath and maybe hone your form with these big tournaments later in the year than they would have been?

SHANE LOWRY: No, I don't think -- I feel like I was playing some decent golf going into the lockdown.

So straightaway for me personally, I don't feel like it's a blessing, or it was a blessing. I came back out then and played some average golf for the last few months.

I was so looking forward to going to Augusta in April as the Open Champion. I was looking forward to going to Ireland to play the Irish Open at Mt. Juliet, a place that I love, and as the Open Champion and just getting to enjoy and all that.

All these tournaments, yes, it's great to be back playing golf, but it would be better if things were just normal and we were playing in front of crowds and you were getting the chance to live life normally.

But like I keep saying, it is what it is now and we just have to deal with it and make the best of a bad situation and get on with it.

Q. If you could just rub the genie's lamp and have one aspect of your game really firing on all cylinders this week, what would it be? Would it be the driving?

SHANE LOWRY: Look, I think if I can hole a few putts this week, I can probably do something decent anyway. I can probably give myself a chance. Look, like I always say, the best players in the world are here, and if one of them brings their "A" game, they're going to be very hard to beat. I'll go out there and do my best, but if I can roll a few putts in -- if I can roll a few putts in early this week and get a bit of confidence going, you never know what could happen.

JOHN DEVER: Shane, thank you for stopping by.