THE 150TH OPEN

July 14, 2022

Shane Lowry

Mixed Zone

Q. A long day out there and a frustrating day but one which you fought back pretty well to get back to level-par.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I got off to the worst possible start and fought back well. Would have been really, really nice to hole that putt on the last. After a bad tee shot on the 2nd, didn't really do much wrong after that. Played pretty good for the rest of the day. I'm pretty happy with how I'm playing.

I know I'm eight behind, but it's a pretty good store score out there today. It's very, very tricky.

Q. The most important thing, I guess, is the fact there are more holes to be played here. You have plenty of chance to actually make amends for, what was it, 3-over par after four holes?

SHANE LOWRY: But I said to Bo walking up the 5th, I said we've got a few holes left to get this back right. I feel like I've done everything pretty much okay today. Tee shoot right on the 2nd is pretty silly. Other than that, I feel like the rest of the day is pretty good.

I'm not down in the dumps by any means about my day. I'm pretty happy with how I fought. It's tough. There's a lot of -- you need a lot of good bounces, and you need a lot of -- you need to be very clever out there. It's very tricky to play that golf course today for them.

Q. Obviously, when you get into an Open Championship, it's different than the buildup, the anticipation of the days beforehand that you do expect a lot of yourselves because you're playing well at the moment. Where do you find your mind and your game and your optimism is right now?

SHANE LOWRY: I felt very optimistic on it this morning, but then you're 3-over through four, and you're like it's not what I wanted. I thought I was pretty good the way I fought back. I feel pretty good. What's going to win this tournament, I have no idea. The course is only getting firmer, and it's as firm as I've ever seen anything.

I'm hitting 3-iron down the last there. It's 350 to the pin and you're hitting 3-iron, that's like I've never seen a golf course like that. Yeah, who knows what score is going to win. If I can shoot a couple of scores in the 60s the next couple of days, I can be thereabouts on Sunday.

Q. Shane, you have obviously loads of experience. And you know the situation like that when you find yourself behind the 8-ball very, very quickly. It's great to be able to draw on that experience to draw yourself back into position where you can get it back.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, look, I know the golf course, and I know that I've got, like, 2-over through three. You've got 33 holes to kind of get yourself back in the mix for the weekend. It's a lot of golf and a lot of chances out there; you can drive a few greens. I did today. I hit it pretty well. I put myself in decent positions.

Probably could have been a couple better coming in on the back nine, which would have been nice if I shot 2-under today, it would have been lovely considering my start. But I'm -- I'm fairly optimistic about my golf and the weekend.

We're out late tomorrow afternoon. It's going to be a long evening tomorrow. It was a long day today, an early tee time, and you're finishing nearly 4:00, it's a long day.

Go back and chill out now for the next sort of 20 hours and get after it tomorrow afternoon.

Q. You played sort of maybe 14 really good holes, a couple of bad holes. When was the last time you had to work so hard to shoot a 72? And how taxing is it mentally just to keep focusing? It seems to be a question on every single shot and very fine margins.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, you're standing there, and there's places on every hole that you don't want to hit it and trying not to hit it there and trying to hit it in certain spots. And certain holes you can only hit it to 60 feet and you have to have a good two-putt.

It's just tricky, and you just need to take what you're given. I felt like I did that pretty well today. I didn't get too flustered at all on my start, which I could have done and I have done in the past. I fought hard like I always do and I shot level-par.

It's not the end of the world. It's not middle of the field. It's better than middle of the field.

Look, I know I'm a long way behind Rory. He shot 6-under. Cameron Young shot 8-under. Pretty good scores. That doesn't mean 20-under is going to win around here this weekend. I think 12- to 14-under would be a pretty good mark, even if it is that low. I don't know. I'm pretty happy with how today went considering the start.

Q. Three 68s would be nice then.

SHANE LOWRY: I'll take it and go home and sit down for the weekend.

Q. How long was your putt? You drove to 12. Your 13th, must have been over 100 feet?

SHANE LOWRY: Was it?

Q. 124.

SHANE LOWRY: So 40 yards. Yeah, I just couldn't even get a second putt to the hole. I hit it (indiscernible). I watched J.T. hitting his, and he had a bit of a wrist hinge in his, almost like he was hitting a bit of a shot. I practised those putts, but it's hard to get yourself to hit them.

Back into the wind is the thing. Any putts downwind you can get to the hole, no problem. When you get back into the wind, it's so strong, it does create a big difference.

Q. A lovely pitch shot at 14. A great shot at 15 from the rough. You gave yourself chances --

SHANE LOWRY: At 15, I actually hit a great shot on 16. Got very unlucky. Hit a great putt there. Played 17 nice. And I hit a poor tee shot on 18 really I was trying a 3-iron into the valley and two-putt it. Hit a great pitch and hit a bad putt.

Look, I played lovely golf today. After the 4th hole, I didn't really do much wrong at all. I hit those shots in the right places and put myself in position. It was the start that killed me today. The double on 2, like double on these tournaments is tough to take. You do it so early on.

The only good thing about doing it early on is you give yourself time to recover. I did that today. I'm pretty happy, like I keep saying, how today went considering my start.

Q. Was it a help that you had a long delay after the 4th? You had to wait.

SHANE LOWRY: No, it wasn't any way at all. I hit -- like where that pin is on 4, I hit a good drive, and I've got 200 yards to the pin. It's like, well, I either hit it -- you're missing the green right pretty much if you go a little bit right of the hole.

I fancied the second shot. I fancied a high cut 6-iron, just pulled it a little bit. It was actually nice in the bunker and there wasn't as much sand as I thought there was.

You make a bogey like that in tournaments like this, yeah, I was fine. Like I was 3-over through four, but I was by no way flustered or by no means angry with myself. I stayed patient, and I just knew that, like I keep saying, there's plenty of holes left.

Q. When it's a long day like that and you have to wait on just about every hole, is it harder to take when you're trying to dig yourself out of an early hole than it is if you're running along?

SHANE LOWRY: I've been doing this long enough to deal with days like today. If you're standing there trying to make excuses for your bad day for being too long on the course, well, don't come here and play because it's The Open at St. Andrews, and it's going to take six hours to play a round around here, and that's just the way it is. I know how to deal with that.

Q. Any frustration out there? That was the key today to avoid frustration.

SHANE LOWRY: Like I keep saying, like my tee shot on 2, hit it right. You can hit it -- I was trying to avoid that bunker obviously down to the left. The way that bunker is, it's nearly hard to hit it in it. It's one of those where you just hit it over towards it and play your second shot from there. That was my only real mistake, I felt, so other than that, I'm pretty happy.