ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 28, 2022

Shane Lowry

Press Conference

CLARE BODEL: Good morning, everyone. Welcome, Shane, to St Andrews. You've had a nice time on the golf course recently, that win at Wentworth was obviously fantastic. This is an event where you've had a bit of success in the past. You were tied fourth last year. Tel us how much do you enjoy being here at St Andrews at the Dunhill.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it's always great to come back to St Andrews. I just wish it was a little warmer. Getting a bit soft in my old age. But it's great to come back and obviously off the back of the win at Wentworth is pretty special and pretty cool. I've got a nice draw out there this week and looking forward to the week ahead.

CLARE BODEL: What is it about this event, does the team event make it just so different?

SHANE LOWRY: Apart from one year, I've played the same partner every year. I love coming back and playing with Jerry. We have a good time and we've done okay in the past. We haven't quite got the win yet. Would be nice to get that this week.

Look, St Andrews, for a golfer, is a very special place to come play golf. You get a chance to come play a tournament here, you take it. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. How were the celebrations after Wentworth --

SHANE LOWRY: I did have a few black outfits. I was in by 12 o'clock that night. No, Wentworth, I was working the following day, so I took it very easy. Everyone else did all the partying for me.

Q. You come here, how much more do people recognise you here?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I got hounded by someone at the coffee shop this morning (laughing). Yeah, look, this is an amazing town. It's just such a good praise to come. And yeah, you walk around town with amateur golf year, it's just normal.

It's such a good place. Obviously it's a student town but it's an very historic golf town and I'm probably very old school in my thoughts, but I just love the history of being here and all that.

Q. Looking at the forecast, what's your mindset, hope for conditions like that?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I think if you look at the forecast, it's good tomorrow, which means scoring will be quite good here and Kingsbarns. Carnoustie even on a nice day is tough, so it will be important to shoot a good score tomorrow. Kingsbarns on Friday will be pretty difficult.

Yeah, just go and play. It's the same for everyone. Just go out and deal, and try to enjoy as best you can and shoot the best score you can.

Q. You talk about how good it was to win after three years, and two weeks later; has it sunk in?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, obviously, look, the few days after, I played golf the following day and then I flew straight back to America and was there for ten days.

Just sitting back, sitting at home, sitting there with my kids, I was just so happy to get over the line this year. It does feel like a long time since The Open, and it is really hard to win out here and just to get another one under my belt is very special; and the fact that it was in Wentworth makes it even better.

Q. Do you actually take a bit more time after a win --

SHANE LOWRY: Three years since the last one. Hopefully it's not another three years. I don't know, to be honest. It's one of those, yes, I won two weeks ago. I'm here this week to try to compete and win again. You need to enjoy them as best you can.

But you also need to get back and keep going. Take advantage of your kind of good play and just your confidence as well as your momentum and just get on with it.

So yeah, I don't really know, to be honest. It was nice -- honestly it was nice just to sit down and chill out at home for a few days and take the win in, and just every day you wake up -- you're in form, it is nice. I always say, I try not to let golf dictate my mood but sometimes it does. It's nice when it comes that way.

Q. You had many wins in the past, and still you celebrate. Is it possible you tell us how you celebrate because I saw like one guy, he won, and Bob MacIntyre, he won two weeks ago, and then I saw in France, he was exhausted, drained. The wins, the celebration --

SHANE LOWRY: Wins sometimes, when you're in contention, not even when win. Contention it does take it out of you. It's just mentally, physically, everything about it is driving range, the adrenaline. When that comes out of you, it's tough.

I think especially if you play the week after, you just want to practice as little as possible and ride the good momentum and the confidence levels more than anything else. But yeah, I've had weeks have I've been in contention in the past and you go the following week and you're just a bit trained. You still play well but it does take a bit out of you.

Q. The win Wentworth, was that a box ticked, and would you like to do that here?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, definitely, it's one of the places you'd love to win. Obviously this week would be great. Would have been nice if it three months ago.

But obviously, I'd love to win at St Andrews and to win this tournament would be very special, and it would definitely be another box ticked in my career. I'm going along nicely and I've won a few nice tournaments. I'd like to become a bit more consistent, winning a bit more every two or three years. You know, I just kind of keep going out and keep doing my thing and doing as best I can.

Hopefully give myself a chance this week and I'm playing well and playing some of the best golf I've played in my career. If I can go out there and battle the elements this week when it comes, I'll do all right.

Q. Nice to see you smiling. If this is a tournament you can enjoy --

SHANE LOWRY: Definitely, look, I come here, and like I said, I play with Jerry every year. We get on great. We have a great time together and we go out and do as best we can and enjoy ourselves.

It is one of those tournaments where you are out there and trying to enjoy yourself best you can. You're obviously still trying to play well and when it comes to hitting shots, you're competitive and I'm a competitive person and no matter how much I'm trying to enjoy myself, I enjoy playing well. It is a format that it is enjoyable. It is one of those weeks where it's like that.

Q. How much did you watch of the Presidents Cup last week?

SHANE LOWRY: I'll be fully honest. I actually didn't watch any of it. I was away with my friends at the weekend playing golf. I was otherwise occupied. But I did see the results. I did fancy the Internationals to give it a bit of a go. They were being written off very easily and at the end of the day, these guys are still professional golfers and they are still some of the best golfers in the world.

To write that off I think is a bit -- some of the stuff people were saying beforehand maybe was a bit wrong. I did think there were certain points, I look back on the results and read up on it and there were certain points in the final round that maybe a few putts here or there went there way, the result might have been a little bit different.

But they did put on a good performance and it's great to see the passion that Tom Kim showed and players like that and how much it still means to Adam Scott and Trevor Immelman and people like that.

It's something that we'll be going to Italy next year as underdogs as well. I think we could, not take a leaf out of their book but just go in and try to take the underdog tag and just go out and golf for it. Nothing to lose mentality, yeah.

Q. (Off-mic.)

SHANE LOWRY: Not going to say -- not going to give that team anything to hang in the locker room next September.

Yeah, look, we have already had a nice start to the campaign now. It's great to see Bob win and it was great to see Guido win last week. I think if we can get our core group of players playing well at the right time, we can go there and give it a go.

Q. Your determination to get on that Ryder Cup Team, what would your advice be to them over the next ten, 11 months?

SHANE LOWRY: The next ten months is probably going to be difficult for him. It's going to be a lot of time, it's going to be all they think about, whether it's a good day or a bad day. I think it's important for them to go out and give it their all and don't hold back.

Our team, it would be great to see people like that stand up and make the team and go there, the likes of Bob and guide oh. You look at Bob, he looks like a determined, gritty character. I wouldn't say -- I would say it doesn't matter who he stands on the first tee against, he feels he can beat them. People like that, you want on your team. Just for them, it's just to plan their schedule, to not waiver from that and go out and go after it and hopefully things will go their way.

Q. Just wondered what you made of the LIV players, the letter saying the World Ranking points will get obsolete?

SHANE LOWRY: What was the last?

Q. The LIV players, if they are not getting World Ranking points, the World Rankings will become obsolete?

SHANE LOWRY: I haven't looked at it much to be honest. We are just here to play golf and we are here for this tournament.

CLARE BODEL: Thank you, Shane.