WM PHOENIX OPEN

February 8, 2024

Shane Lowry

TPC Scottsdale

Quick Quotes

Q. 4-under par, good score before the delay. Came out here, as cold as it was, how would you assess how good of a round it was given the conditions today?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it was pretty good. I was going quite well, obviously, before the delay. It got really bad towards the end, it was quite tough. We came back out, the wind was not blowing as strong, but the ball was going nowhere, and it was cold and kind of tough. I was happy I made a couple of really nice saves coming in, and I'm pretty happy with my day's work.

Q. This is a golf course that's not meant to be played in cold and in dampness the way that it is. Easy to say, yeah, it's a longer golf course, is there anything else about this golf course that makes it tricky?

SHANE LOWRY: No, just I think it's a mental factor of trying to get to tell yourself that the ball's just going like 20 yards shorter. You're standing there from 190, and normally you would be able to push a 7-iron there, and you have to hit 5-iron. So, mentally it's quite challenging to tell yourself that sometimes. But the guys who do that best this week -- because it's going to be cold all week, I think the ball's not going to be going very far for most of the week -- so, yeah, it will be interesting to see what the scoring does over the next few days. I would imagine it's still going to be pretty decent because it's pretty soft and the greens are perfect, so, yeah, we'll see.

Q. Certainly not your first weather delay. As you've gotten to be more a veteran, have you learned about how to treat weather delays? Is there something you do differently or just ride it out?

SHANE LOWRY: You ride it out. It's one of those where, the older you get, the more you realize don't let it affect you, just go in, chill out. I'm lucky, I have a couple of friends here with me this week. We went out to my car in the parking lot and we just hung there for about two hours, warmed up, because it was very cold. Yeah, you just get used to it as the years go on.

Q. Kind of expected you in short sleeves, right?

SHANE LOWRY: No, no. I wasn't dressed very well today. It was very cold. My hands were as cold as they have been in awhile. It's one of those where you had to try and warm up your hands somehow before every shot, because you lose the feeling in 'em. Especially when you're trying to hit soft shots or chips and putts, your touch kind of goes a little bit. But I dealt with it okay, as I normally do in bad conditions. I don't enjoy it, but I did it.

Q. What was the highlight of your round?

SHANE LOWRY: I think my birdies on 17 and 18 after making bogey on 16 I think kind of kept me going. It was playing very tough at the time. To be 5-under through 9 out there was like a big head start on the field. I obviously didn't play the front nine, I played the front nine in 1-over, but still that's not overly bad golf for today.

Q. Usually the challenge of this event is obviously the crowds and the fans and the environment, but now you have the added challenge of the weather. How do you balance it all in your head?

SHANE LOWRY: I've been out here long enough to know that each week is different. You get good, bad, indifferent weather. If anything, it's more disappointing to me because the atmosphere is not as good as it normally is, with everyone being so cold and wrapped up. I'm sure there's less drink been taken out there as well, because it's not exactly nice weather to have a cold beer in your hands. Yeah, it's one of those where you just have to deal with whatever comes. I think the weather's going to be nice tomorrow, not great Saturday, and nice again on Sunday. So it will still be cold all week, we'll see what happens.

Q. Is there something in particular you've been working on in your swing or in your game right now that's kind of led you to this?

SHANE LOWRY: No, I didn't play, I haven't played a whole lot of tournaments since the Ryder Cup. I played once in November, then my first one was Palm Springs. I missed the cut there, but I shot 12-under. So, it was one of those where probably should have been better, but I was pretty happy where my game was at.

Then, Torrey Pines I finished like middle of the pack, but I was pretty happy with how I played that week. Practice has been going pretty well at home. I went out today and showed that, you know, I can still play at the odd time. I know I just need to kind of keep going, like I'm building, trying to build for the big weeks. I have a bit of a weird schedule this year. I'm not in some of the big tournaments, which is pretty annoying to be sitting at home watching those on TV, so it kind of gives me that little bit of motivation to kind of play as good as I can this week to get into next week.

Q. Do you think that lights a fire under you, knowing you have those --

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, obviously those events on the PGA TOUR are huge, but I, obviously, look at the Masters in April as a huge goal, and everything over the next few months is kind of gearing towards that. If anything, I feel like I played too much at the start of last year, because I had to play all the designated events. Whereas, this year I'm going to have a little bit more time off, a little bit more rest and a little bit more time to practice, which is nice as well.

Q. Are you going to try to write for exemptions?

SHANE LOWRY: I've written everyone with no luck so far.

Q. Would you have come out to party today, to the tournament?

SHANE LOWRY: No, I said it to the boys, there's a group of lads on the 6th hole, when it was raining, I said, What are you guys doing out here? Surely you can find the closest bar and do something else. But, I mean, the rain was coming in sideways, they were standing there to watch us hit a 6-iron 160 yards, I was like, You should just go home, you know? It's like one of those. It was, honestly it was horrible, it was as tough conditions I can remember for a while.