DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN

July 1, 2021

Shane Lowry

Mount Juliet Estate

Quick Quotes

Q. Pleased with that?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I am. I felt like I had control of my ball for most of the day today. Felt pretty good out there. Nice to be out there playing in front of a few Irish people and I wouldn't say I'm pretty happy with it. I'll go in and look at what the scoring is like. I'm sure the scoring is all right but it is what it is. I'll move on now and try and shoot a low score and get myself in contention for the weekend.

Q. Without going into too much detail, the par 5s were not kind to you.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, not at all. I even missed a good chance on the 10th which is my opening hole of the day, and I missed a good chance for eagle on 17.

And you know, obviously I did what I did, I lost the ball there on No. 5 which was just -- you know, we were waiting on the tee and we were having a chat and I was a bit -- I lost focus and lost concentration out there, which I was really, really disappointed with because I don't like doing that. I don't like giving away shots.

And then I hit a really good drive down the 8th hole, and going in with iron, missed the green in the wrong spot.

I finished the round well other than my tee shot on the 5th, which I was happy with. So, look, I move on and try and shoot as low as I can the next three days and see where it leaves me.

Q. The crowd out there, and there was a crowd, if all bar few were following your match with Martin Kaymer was alongside you, nice to have that sunny Irish summer day with a really Irish crowd again?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, obviously myself and Pádraig were paired in two groups and Rory is there this afternoon, so it's perfect for the Irish people to come out and watch us in the morning and follow Rory and G-Mac in the afternoon.

It was nice, there's only a small amount of people but felt like there were a lot of them with us and there was a bit of buzz and excitement which was nice. I wish there was a lot more people here, because imagine 20,000 people here today? This weather, just incredible. But obviously that's not the case.

Q. I heard your brother Alan is going to be caddying for you at the Olympics.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, we decided that months ago, because he obviously needs to get the time off work and stuff. I talked it over with him and asked him. He caddied for me before and done a great job. We had a good run in America for a few weeks and to be honest at that stage, I had not asked Bo to caddie for me and we talked about it.

But because we're so close as a family, I just wouldn't like to do that, and he's got a good job and he's working his way up in the world that way and I just wanted to leave him at that. It would be nice to have him at the Olympics and nice to go there and try to win a medal with him and enjoy the whole experience.

Q. He one mull ago are scratch cup, he's not going to be able to play that now?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it's that weekend. I'm sure he's not too down about that. Even we just got all our gear during the week and he was pretty happy with that. Look, exciting times for us. It will be pretty cool for my parents sitting at home watching us, as well.

Q. You're into it now; a round of 70 means you're in the Irish Open with a chance of making a run. That's hugely important.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it is, my golf was good today. I shot 70. There's a lot of golf to be played. Scoring is going to be quite low so probably going to need a decent score tomorrow to put myself into contention, but you don't know. You just need to keep plugging away and keep going. On a course like that, you can get a run of five or six birdies in a row and all of a sudden you're in the tournament. That's my plan, keep going, keep my head down. I have 24 hours till my tee time tomorrow, so I'm going to relax, watch some golf and chill out at the hotel and enjoy my evening.

I wouldn't say I'm delighted but I'm very happy with the way I played. Went out and got off to a shaky start and I played lovely for the last 12 or 14 holes which was nice. Irish Opens are generally a bit, not different, but obviously it's a huge tournament to me. It means a lot to me.

So I want to go out there. I want to do very well and I want to give the crowd out there something to cheer about. So 2-under is a decent start. It's not great but I'm in the tournament now and got three rounds left and see what happens.

Q. How happy were you to see the amount of people following you around at this point in the week?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it's nice. And it's probably nice for the people who actually could get tickets. It's probably nice for them, they could see a lot of golf. Probably a few hundred people following us around and felt like a nice atmosphere.

It's great to have a crowd. I've obviously been playing in America and very fortunate and I'm sure the guys who play full-time on The European Tour are pretty happy to see a crowd out there today because it does create an atmosphere. Even I got off to a difficult start, and the crowd gives you something to feed off of and a pep in your step when you have fans in the crowd to play in front of.