MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2022

Shane Lowry

Quick Quotes

Q. Shane, how much did you enjoy today?

SHANE LOWRY: I didn't enjoy it really much at all. It was so hard out there. Look, it was one of my better rounds of my career, I think. It was quite tricky out there, quite difficult, and I managed to play some good golf and hole some nice putts at the right times. I'm, obviously, very happy with my score. There was a lot more disappointed standing here yesterday, and, yeah, I'm in a great position going into the weekend.

Q. A lot of birdies today. How much satisfaction did you get out of the par saves?

SHANE LOWRY: Great par save on 14 and 16. I absolutely hate that wedge on 15, so I was so happy to even get that on land, but, yeah, overall my game was pretty solid again. When I sat down and talked about my round yesterday, it was four or five shots was the kind of make-or-break of my round yesterday, and I just didn't pull them off. Today I managed to pull those shots off, and I'm in a great position now going into the weekend.

Q. The chip-in on 10, how much did that sort of --

SHANE LOWRY: Oh, you're saving two shots there. I was hitting that chip. It was a very sandy lie. It wasn't a great position. I wanted do hit it 10, 15 feet and give myself a chance of a par and not make double. That's kind of what you are doing out here on a day like today. You're just trying to at worse make bogeys and then take your burdies when you get the chance.

But yeah, obviously kick-started the round. From there on I played beautiful for the rest of the round as well and gave myself a few chances and the two par saves that I needed to save as well.

Q. Windy forecast for the weekend. You won't be unhappy with that?

SHANE LOWRY: It's going to be hard. Look, I'm in a great position. You're going to need everything to go your way to be standing there getting green on Sunday. I'm where I want to be. I'm where I need to be. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be hard, but I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Did you go out and work on anything after yesterday's round? You were frustrated.

SHANE LOWRY: No, I just was frustrated with my score, and I hit maybe 10 or 15 balls and hit a few putts just to kind of get it out of my system. I had a chat with Neal about that. When I sit down and talked about it afterwards, I played really good golf yesterday. I just hit maybe four five bad shots at the wrong time. A couple of them at the wrong time and a bit of -- you're not making great scores then. Yeah, my game is in good shape. It has been for a while, so, yeah.

Q. It seemed like where you expected to be when you started this?

SHANE LOWRY: I don't ever expect to be anything in golf because you don't know what's going to happen. You don't expect to do anything, so just go out there and prepare as best you can and hope for the best when if comes to it. That's my attitude towards it.

Q. The leaderboard shows how tough it is out there as well.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah. It was 4 or 5 over. 4. Cut 4 over. It's tricky. It's hard. This place is hard at the best of times. When you are throwing a 20- or 30-mile-an-hour gust of wind as there, you get down to Amen Corner, you won't believe how hard it is down there and how easy it looks maybe on TV, but it's just brutal it's so hard.

Q. Shane, in terms of your own chances, do you feel the harder it is, the better for you?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah. I play well in tough conditions. I much prefer the scoring be like this than 20-under. This is where I think I thrive in these kind of conditions. Yeah, it's supposed to be windy tomorrow.

And knowing Augusta, it will probably be easier pins on Sunday. Scoring might get a little better on Sunday, but tomorrow you need to put yourself in a position to give yourself a chance on Sunday, so that's my goal for tomorrow.

Q. And the golf Gods didn't have your back last month. You said as long as they have your back in the future, maybe --

SHANE LOWRY: I did say that. Three weeks, four weeks time. I said that, something like that. Yeah, I'm hoping. I'll need every type of God on my side this weekend.

Q. Is 68 your low score here?

SHANE LOWRY: It is, yeah. I think so. Yeah.

Q. Shane, in terms of the mental challenges, would this be the most mentally challenging golf course?

SHANE LOWRY: I think so, yeah. You need to be so precise out there, and you can be made to look very silly with okay shots. If you hit the wrong shot at the wrong time, you're making a big number out there. That's the way this golf course is. You just need to manage your game very well out there and play quite conservative, which is what I tried to do today.

I think I did it very well, and I holed a few putts when I needed to, and got a bit of fortune as well. 10 you're saving two shots there. And what was I -- was I level par for tournament going into 10th? Maybe. I don't know what score it was, but you make bogey there, and all of a sudden the cut is in your head because you have 11, 12, and Amen Corner. You hole out, and I feel like I'm in the tournament then. You're only a couple off the lead at the time. And obviously, Scottie is, obviously, 6 under. Yeah, not going to be too far away. Yeah.