MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2023

Shane Lowry

Quick Quotes

Q. Give us a perspective of just what the last 20 hours have felt like with the stop and start and now you come out here to finish and you know what's coming with the weather?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, look, I've been around the game long enough to know what to do in these situations. So it's just kind of take the rough with the smooth and just go out there and do as best you can when you are out there. Like the stop on 11 for 10 minutes yesterday and then obviously on 14 yesterday evening, it is what it is. We knew we were going to come back out and play in some pretty bad weather and to be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be this morning. But it was still very tricky out there. It's going to make for a very tricky scoring day today.

Q. When you get to a major championship venue and the way that this course is designed to play do you feel like you positioned yourself as good as you could knowing what's coming?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I probably should have been better over the last two days. It is disappointing to see, you know, Brooks obviously get out in some nice weather and play some really, really good golf and got to 12-under. So Rahmbo's doing a good job of trying to catch him. But you know today, this afternoon is going to be very tough and the scoring's going to be very tough. So in a way it helps the chasers. I think if we can go out and shoot 70 or better this afternoon we can have a chance going into tomorrow.

Q. What kind of scoring do you think is possible this afternoon in these kind of conditions?

SHANE LOWRY: It just depends what they do with the pins. Like someone's going to go out and shoot 67. That would be a great score. If you managed to break 70 this afternoon in these conditions it will be a pretty good score.

Q. Are you happy with the way you finished off?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, yeah. 17 and 18 are just playing so tough. Missed my drive a little bit on 17 and made a great par. Then hit a great drive up 18 and hit a 4-iron to the front of the green. It's brutal. Like I flicked a little 9-iron in there on Thursday. So it's playing a lot different. Holes like 16, standing there it's just impossible to get it back to that flag because you're just so scared of going in that bunker over the green. So it's going to take a lot of good golf and patience this afternoon to give yourself a chance.

Q. You've won in conditions like this before, of course.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I don't particularly enjoy it, but I go out there and give it my best and I know I can deal with it, yeah.

Q. Do you feel like you played in about all four seasons this round from yesterday?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, walking in the 7th hole yesterday it was like the hottest. It was like it was unbelievably warm. Then you're out there this morning and it's freezing. So it's interesting. It's mad how the weather can change here.

Q. The winds yesterday, did that affect you before the finish?

SHANE LOWRY: No, we only played -- I hit my second shot on 13 in it and then my tee shot on 14. So we only played like only two shots in the wind. So I was pretty happy we were called in. With the way the wind was gusting an awful lot that second shot on 14 was going to be difficult.

Q. You gave yourself a huge number of chances yesterday. Obviously hitting the ball lovely. How important are those up-and-downs on 15 and 17? Can you talk us through what you had to do, how far you had to move the ball on those holes?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, 15 was very important because I hit a good shot into 14, missed a good chance there. And coming out I probably would have taken five pars off you if you would have given me this morning. It's pretty difficult. Because you could have went out there this morning, made a couple of bogeys and feel like you were out of the tournament. So I still feel like I'm in the tournament. I know I'm eight behind, but I'm hanging around there.

And the chip on 15 was pretty good. That was really good.

And then 17 it was probably the only bad drive I hit all day and all round, really. I was behind some trees and just, I had to move it about 50 yards in the air with a 5-iron. Hit a pretty good shot onto the green and lovely 2-putt there.

And then the up-and-down on 18 was pretty nice to finish the day.

So it would have nice or it would have been disappointing to make a bogey there considering how I played that second round. But, yeah, I'm pretty happy with the way things are going.

Q. I know it's impossible to predict what the winning score might be, but do you think people would take 12-under right now?

SHANE LOWRY: I would anyway. (Laughing.) Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It depends how Brooks and Rahm, they're two of the best players in the world are up there, depends how they play. If they could go out and go away from the field this afternoon then it could be a two-horse race or they could come back to us and we all could have a chance. So you just don't know.

Q. You're playing well enough to get to 12?

SHANE LOWRY: I am. I'm pretty happy the way I'm playing I think if my putter warms up over the weekend I could be dangerous, yeah.