ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 19, 2022

Shane Lowry

Yas Links

Press Conference

NEIL AHERN: Shane, thanks for your time, and welcome to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Q. It's a switch of golf course, but is it one that you approve of given your skill set?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I think so. Like it's obviously along the coast here, and it's going to be quite windy, links-style, but it's fairly, I don't know if you've been out on the course but it's fairly, you know, tricky around the greens, and so it's going to require a lot of good iron play. And decent with the short game if you miss the greens.

It's a course that, you know, fully confident, I'm playing confident with my game and going into it I'd be really, really bullish about this week. But I've had two months without tournament, and I'm always a bit anxious on a week like this about how I'm going to be playing going into it.

Yeah, it's a course I feel like would suit me. Suits my eye, so yeah.

Q. How important -- before I get to that, how does it differ from obviously Abu Dhabi Golf Club, where of course you enjoyed such great success in 2019?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, it's a great golf course. I have had success there. Look, I won the tournament but I haven't actual haven't had much more success. I've missed a lot of cuts there.

Like that's your typical parkland with nice pristine fairways and greens and thick rough, whereas here is kind of a bit more linksy style, linksy kind of feel. The course here is in incredible condition. Probably one of the best-condition golf courses you'll see fairways and greens and around the greens.

Obviously it's scruffy off the fairway because that's the style of golf it is. It's sand and long rough. Yeah, two completely different golf courses and two completely different tests.

When you come to a new golf course, you don't know what the winning score is going to be so you actually don't even know what a about score is out there. It's a strange one. You feel like, is 5-under a good score or is 8-under a good score or are you happy to break par? You don't really know.

Judging by the forecast, Friday here is going to be really, really windy. So obviously that's going be the day to baton down the hatches and try and shoot the best score you can and you have to kind of make it up on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Q. You mentioned that sense of anxiety because it is the first one back. Is there also a feel of excitement, ready to go, and the start of what -- well, every year is a big year, but you'll no doubt be wanting to make it a massive year.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, every year you start, you want it to be your best year. I'm going have to do some pretty good things to make this my best year, and I'm excited at the challenge ahead. I think I really didn't enjoy my golf towards the end of last year. Played a lot of golf, probably played too much. Really enjoyed my time at The Ryder Cup, and then after that I probably should have taken a bit more of a break.

But I had a nice break there at Christmas. And I went back to Florida a couple weeks ago, and I was really excited to get back in the golf course and back practising again, which -- which is a sign that, which is a good sign for me.

So excited for the year ahead. It's hard to believe, you know, if you count 2009, which I was on Tour for most of, this is my 14th season on Tour, which is bananas, really. Time flies. It's exciting and I really feel like I'm coming to an age now where I'm hopefully coming to the prime of my career, and I can do some really good things in this game.

Q. You played Kingsbarns Links a few times, same designer who designed this course. Do you see a lot of Kingsbarns Links in this?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, yeah, I didn't know that, but you can see kind of it's very undulating around the greens here. It's actually a strange one because if you knew this golf course, probably would make it a lot easier. It's a tough one to get to know quickly because there's a lot of slopes around the greens and places that you really don't want to miss it and places that you can miss it.

I think as the week goes on, you learn that. Another 18 holes today and hopefully I get to see a bit more. Yeah, it kind of goes around the coast like Kingsbarns does, as well. So it's somewhat similar but it's 30 degrees here and it's not there, so a little bit different, sunny Scotland.

Q. Just wondering, when you've won a major and you've won four events around the world, how do you measure success now?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I suppose the perfect answer for that would be I would have counted last season as a pretty successful season, even though I didn't win. I was pretty happy with my lot. I obviously would liked to have won.

It was probably one of the most consistent seasons; it was the most consistent season I've had on Tour I think. I'm pretty happy where my game is at, pretty happy where my mind is at, pretty happy where I'm going. But yeah, what is success, for me, success over the season, obviously, look, I want to win again but I just want to, I just want to keep playing some good golf, keep playing consistent golf and putting myself there.

I feel like if I can keep putting myself in contention, hopefully I can, you know, knock off one or two or three tournaments, I don't know but yeah, I don't really know to be honest. I don't think about it too much. I get up every day, I go about my business, and I kind of give it all I can on that given day, and hopefully it's a good day. And if not, I just move on, and you know, like I keep saying no matter what score I shoot, I still have to go out and do it the next day.

Success for me this year, I'm not going to stand here and go, I want to win the Masters or I want to do this that and the other. Success for me is about being happy with what I'm doing and being happy with -- at the end of every day, I've been happy with what I've done that day. Yeah, it's a tough question to answer.

Q. Just as a follow-up, how happy would you be to have a Ryder Cup Team mate in 2023 like Seamus Power? What a run of golf he's been on. Can you talk about what Seamus has done over the last couple years to get where he is now?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, obviously I've known Seamus a long time. I played amateur golf with him. We're the same age. What owes done and the perseverance he showed over the last short of ten or 15 years is incredible. He's getting the rewards now and I'm delighted for him.

He's obviously played some great golf in the last few weeks and the last few months and got his first win on the PGA TOUR last year, and I did say it at the end of last year, I don't feel like he gets the credit he deserves for what he's out there doing.

I think he's starting to get that credit now, and hopefully -- you know, I actually just said it to Paddy yesterday, and Rory. We were playing a practise round and I said, "It would be nice to have another Irishman at Augusta." So I'm sure that's his goal over the next few months and hopefully he can be there.

Q. Obviously it's a different track this year but just generally being back in Abu Dhabi where you've had so much success before, do you generally get a good vibe about the place and do you feel you can bring your whole game with the atmosphere and the field and being such a big event at the start of the season?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, look, you come back to a tournament you've won before and you see your name on the trophy, you know, picture of that around the place withholding that trophy is pretty nice.

It's a place I like coming. Look, I always said I like coming over here to the desert to play golf. I've had some decent success here. So yeah, it's another event. It's at a golf course that I like, and I'm looking forward to the week ahead.