DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH OPEN

July 3, 2021

Shane Lowry

Mount Juliet Estate

Quick Quotes

SHANE LOWRY: It was just a struggle, bad start, hard when you go out trying to shoot a number and get off to that start. Silly shot on the third and followed up with a bad bogey on 4 and then it's kind of from there, you're behind the black ball and you're chasing and things weren't going my way. I wasn't holing putts or hitting great shots. I was a bit in between.

Difficult day but sure, look, I'm going to have those. I'll have plenty of those again. Just have to chin up now and move on. Not much more I can say about it. It just wasn't a great day. It was one of those where I tried my best, I gave it my all and it just wasn't good enough.

Q. Conditions-wise, how did you find it?

SHANE LOWRY: Look, it was blustery and there was a little couple rain showers but I thought it was fairly gettable today. The rain actually made the greens putt nice and Justin shot 7-under, looked easy enough. I'm obviously very disappointed because I really, really want to do well here but like I said, I just have to pick myself up and move on and try to shoot as low a score as I can tomorrow.

Q. Tomorrow you'll have a relatively early tee time, not ideal in terms of the tournament but does it give you the chance to get to Portlaoise?

SHANE LOWRY: No, I don't think I will. It's Wendy's birthday tomorrow and we're going away for a night. I'm not sure I'll get away with going to Portlaoise tomorrow, even though I'll be watching it or listening to it on the radio but I'm not sure.

Q. A start like that that kicks you in the teeth, that kind of story, isn't it?

SHANE LOWRY: It's a difficult day. It's hard because you want it so bad and I get off to a nice start, played the second nicely and didn't hit that bad of a shot on the third. Just the wind got it and came up a few yards short. It was a difficult, difficult start.

Difficult day all around. I didn't really get anything going. Even kind of between -- even though I was 2-over through five, I said to myself, if I can get back to level par playing 14, maybe shoot a couple under from there. But just one of those days where nothing went my way. I felt like I was hitting decent putts. I didn't hit the ball great. But still felt like I was okay and could have shot a decent score.

It was one of those things where you want to go out and shoot a good score and the wind goes out of your sails a little bit.

Q. Do you think maybe the conversion after being in American conditions for six months made a difference?

SHANE LOWRY: The third hole I definitely got caught there. 166 yards to the hole and like said to Bo, if it was two weeks ago, I'd be cruising an 8-iron in, and 7-iron go short in the water. I remember I got it going in the Irish Open last year after being in the States for so long, I got fooled with the conditions and the ball not going so far. Look, I'm not going to make excuses. I should have known.

I'm not stupid. I've been playing golf long enough and I've been playing golf in Ireland long enough. I should have hit 7-iron as hard as I could and past the flag. Probably a mistake. That's not good enough. I shouldn't be making mistakes like that. That's what I was most disappointed in. When you're at your best and playing good golf, you don't make mistakes like that.

Stuff like that that I've probably done this week, and there's been times where I made really, really stupid mistakes and I'm not too happy with it and I need to clean that up.

Q. Two weeks away from your defence of the Claret Jug, so-so first three rounds in the Irish Open in 2019, finished with a 68 and went to Portrush in rather good shape. So a nice solidifying confident-boosting 60-something tomorrow would help?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, that's the plan. I also thought a couple rounds in the 60s over the weekend would have given me a lot of confidence.

Yeah, it's so hard to come in after a round like that when you want it so bad and you try so hard to do so well, and to come in here and try to explain how I'm feeling right now is very difficult because this tournament means an awful lot to me. Want to be out late tomorrow. I want to be out there and have the buzz going around and playing my game and doing my thing in front of the Irish people.

And now I'll be off at the crack of the dawn and finish early, and it's just not ideal. I'll pick myself up tomorrow morning, like every professional golfer we all do after bad days. You just have to move on and try and shoot a good score tomorrow and then see where it leaves me on the leaderboard.