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DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP, DUBAI

November 18, 2015

Shane Lowry

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

SARAH GWYNN: Thanks for joining us this morning. Welcome back to Dubai. There's a lot of talk about Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett, but you're still very much in this, aren't you.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, like I know what I need to do this week. I know I need to go and win the tournament. But that's like no other week for me.

I'm coming out here and like with the exception of the weeks where you feel like you're struggling and not playing well, I think mostly you go out, and when you have a chance to win the tournament -- I just need to go out there Thursday and Friday and try to put myself in a position going into the weekend. Hopefully I can make it as exciting as I can on Sunday.

SARAH GWYNN: And how does your game feel coming into this week?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I feel like I struggled in China. I played okay. But struggled on the greens. But played the Pro-Am yesterday and I really felt like I was playing well. So I'm going to play nine holes this afternoon, and I'm quietly confident that I'm playing well enough; that I think if my putter warms up, I can definitely give this a run at the weekend. Fingers crossed that happens.

Q. You touched on it. Has the cold putter been the problem the last couple of weeks, that you think you haven't been quite getting the results you wanted?
SHANE LOWRY: Exactly, totally. Like really struggled the first week in China. I fell like it was a bit better last week but didn't hole much. So, yeah, it's been the problem. You know, it's probably the reason I feel like I didn't win at the British Masters, as well.

So, yeah, it's just the last sort of six weeks hasn't been great. But I like it here. I think the greens are beautiful here, and you know, I've putted nicely yesterday in the Pro-Am. Made quite a few birdies. I'm happy the way things are going. I've got my coach, Neil, here this week with me which is a big help, and he always keeps me in a good frame of mind. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. Are you working mentally on anything on your putting this week to get more confident? And also, you said your coach is here; does it help you mentally that he's here, and compared to China, where many players were complaining about the atmosphere?
SHANE LOWRY: Neil, like I said, he gets me in a good frame of mind. He gets me thinking well. That's about all I do there. We hit a few putts on the putting green and try to focus on the target, as opposed to my stroke, just things like that.

Yeah, obviously China, the atmosphere in China is not great. It's tough sometimes playing in that atmosphere. But it's fine; I'm sure Kristoffer Broberg is pretty happy with the atmosphere in China. If you play well, it doesn't matter where you are in the world or what it's like. That's the way I feel about it.

Yeah, it's nice to be back in Dubai. It's a lovely place. It's a great golf course, great weather, great hotels, great food. It's a great place to be. It's just nice to be back here.

Q. Over your career, have you been a one-putter guy or a chopper-and-changer?
SHANE LOWRY: I've kind of chopped and changed a little bit, but the putter I'm using is the putter I've had for like six years or something. I picked it up in Abu Dhabi I think six years ago. I've had it ever since. Yeah, I think I've changed a few times, but yeah, I kind of always go back to the same one.

Q. When I've asked around amongst your peers about what they like about your game, the one thing that they all say is great hands, great short game, great imagination. Do you think, too, that that's the strongest part of your game, and if it's not, then what is?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I think probably the strongest part of my game is my driving. My driving and my short game, I tend to hit driver most places, and I tend to hit it pretty straight and I hit it a decent distance, as well. And then I do have a decent short game. When I miss greens, I tend to be able to chip it close or chip it in. It's a great asset to have, and it's something that I do work a lot on. I do practice a lot.

Yeah, probably one of the two main strengths of my game are my driving and my chipping.

Q. With these reservations about your putting, to be in contention here, you need to shoot a pretty darn low number. Do you think you've got that in you for this week? Can you put it all beside you and chalk up a very low number this week?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I think so. I think if you look back, I've done well here in the past. I've shot some good scores around here. I think generally to win here, you need to shoot about 20-under.

Yeah, there's no reason why not. Like I said earlier, I played lovely yesterday. I putted lovely in the Pro-Am. So just need to go out tomorrow and do the same and like I said earlier, I think it was a big help having my coach, Neil, here. I tend to normally play well and do well when he's here.

It's nice to have him to kind of -- like I was in Turkey, China the last two weeks and you're there, it's a bit difficult sometimes, when you're on your own you feel like you're not doing things well and you're trying to figure it out yourself. When you have a little more guidance, and I feel like I have that this week.

Q. Just about the putting. Do you think that do you need every week to be reminded to do something; you cannot just learn it once and for a lifetime as a lesson?
SHANE LOWRY: I mean, golf's strange, like some weeks you're driving the ball well and some weeks it all comes together and you win the tournament. Some weeks you feel like you're putting well and your game is not holding up to what it should be.

I'm a believer that maybe four or five times a year, your game fully comes together and you've just got to take advantage of that when it does. You've got to then -- when you don't feel like you're 100 per cent with everything, you've just got to try to finish as best position you can and if you give yourself a chance to win, that's even better.

But like I touched on at the British Masters, I felt like my long game was as good as it's ever been that week, and I just didn't putt well. That's probably the reason why I didn't finish closer to the lead or almost win the tournament.

So you've just got to keep -- like sometimes your stroke, you might have a thought and it might be working and the next week it might not work. That's what I do and that's the way I've always done it and I'm not going to change it now.

Q. You don't think in putting we can be sure, not maybe, sometimes?
SHANE LOWRY: I don't know --

Q. Like we know how the process is to become a good putter.
SHANE LOWRY: A lot of people are different. I'm different. I think I'm different than a lot of people. So a lot of people are out there with their gadgets on the putting green. That's not me, so I'm not going to start doing it now. I've done okay up to now, and I'm going to keep doing it my way and see what happens that way.

Q. Would you like Neil to travel with you every week, or would that just be not feasible for various reasons? Has he got other commitments that wouldn't make that possible?
SHANE LOWRY: It's just not feasible. I think, you know, it would be nice to have him every week, don't get me wrong, because I'm good friends with him, as well. It's just not feasible. He's got other commitments, and then it's just -- I mean, some weeks, then you just don't need it. You just don't want it, either. Sometimes when you have someone there every week, you're always trying to do something.

It's a bit of, you need to get the happy medium with what you want. I feel like I have it. Like Neil travels probably 15 times a year with me, so it's still quite a lot. But like I said, I think over the past few weeks, yeah, I haven't putted well, but sure, that's just golf. Like other players are out there and haven't played well; they haven't been driving the ball well. That's just the way golf is. You just need to keep at it and at it until eventually it turns around.

Q. And finally, what's your remaining schedule, if anything, for the rest of this year and the start of next season?
SHANE LOWRY: I'm playing Sun City, and the EurAsia Cup, I know the team's not picked yet but if I'm in that team I'm playing that, and then I go to America after that.

Q. I know you'd like to be at Hazeltine next year, but do you expect to be at Hazeltine?
SHANE LOWRY: I'm not going to say I expect to be there, because I mean, that's just -- like I really want to be. I really feel like I can be. I don't expect to be anywhere. You can't expect anything in golf. You just need to, like I say, you just need to keep doing what you think is right and keep going with the process of try to win tournaments, try to do well in tournaments.

Yeah, I do feel like I can be there. You know, I think my schedule next year is very good. I think I'm playing in all the right tournaments to make The Ryder Cup Team. There's probably no reason why not. I can't say I expect to be there, but I really want to be there and I think I can be.

Q. It's been a great week for sport in the Republic of Ireland with the football team qualifying for the Euros, beat Bosnia. Be a great way to cap it, wouldn't it, if you were to emerge victorious on Sunday.
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it would. Obviously it was nice, on Monday night I watched the game and was happy for the lads. I met up with Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane a couple months ago just before they played Gibraltar and I had a great chat with them for a couple hours one evening.

It's when you know people, as well, and you see them doing well, it makes it a whole lot better and a whole lot sweeter. It's great, everyone knows how Irish I am and how much I love my country.

So to keep the celebrations going this Sunday would be nice, and you know, that's my goal this week is to go out there and win the tournament and hopefully do enough to win The Race to Dubai.

Q. Whereabouts did you bump into the two former Sunderland managers?
SHANE LOWRY: Just a mutual friend of Martin O'Neill. I have a good friend who is friends with Martin O'Neill and he arranged and we just went for a coffee one evening.

SARAH GWYNN: Okay. We'll leave it there. Shane, thank you, and good luck this week.

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