ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 22, 2026

Brooks Koepka

Shane Lowry

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka here into the interview room here at the Zurich Classic. Shane, making your seventh start at this event. You won it with Rory in 2024, and here you are with Brooks. Talk about how excited you are to team with Brooks this week.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I mean, obviously it's great to come back, a place I've played well in the past. Obviously new partner this week. Pretty excited about it. It's always nice to have a good player along by you to help you along the way, and Brooks is obviously a great player. He's got, you know, multiple majors under his belt, and he's been playing great this season as well.

So, yeah, we're looking forward to it. We had some good fun out there today, and looking forward to having good fun the next few days and hopefully give ourselves a chance on Sunday. I think that's what we're both looking for coming here.

THE MODERATOR: Brooks, this is your fifth time here. You and Chase teamed up for a T-5 in 2017. Talk a little bit about being back at TPC Louisiana and also playing with Shane.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it feels good to be back. I have good memories around this place, obviously playing with my brother twice and then Tuna once.

It's exciting. I like it. I have a good partner this week. I think both of us have been playing really well. Shane has put himself into contention quite a bit as of late. It's exciting. I like the golf course.

I think it actually really sets up well for the both of us, the way we're going about it. We have a good game plan. We'll see how the week goes.

Q. How did this pairing come about? Let's start with Shane. What's your and Brooks' relationship like back home, and whose idea was it to partner up?

SHANE LOWRY: I've known Brooks a long time, back from his European days playing the European Tour. You know, I obviously know Ricky, his caddie, very well. Talking to Brooks, I can't remember the exact time, but it was --

BROOKS KOEPKA: We were at Grove.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, we were at Grove. I said to him, I might need a partner for New Orleans. He goes, Well, I'm going to have to play there. That was kind of it.

Then I text Ricky a few weeks later, and then I sent it to Brooks. I didn't see Brooks for another while because we were playing a bit of a different schedule. Then I said to him, Are we going to tee it up? It was actually at (indiscernible). I said are we going to tee it up in New Orleans? He said, Yeah, let's do it.

We're here. To the outside it might not look like it makes sense, but you know, to us it does. I think the ball, everything about it, you know, we do have a good relationship. We're going to have a good bit of fun out there.

Q. Brooks, how do you feel like your games complement each other for a format like this?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I do. I think we form a really good team. I think the way Shane drives the ball, the way my iron play has been lately, and then Shane's short game, I mean, I think it's a pretty good combination.

I like the way we're going with him hitting off certain holes and me hitting off the other holes. It's the ones that suit my eye and I think the ones that suit his. I think that's a huge advantage. Everybody feels comfortable on the holes that we're going to play.

Then the best ball side of this whole thing, he's been playing great, so just let him go do him and stay out of the way.

Q. You jokingly admit it's not an obvious pairing. How would you describe the personal dynamic?

BROOKS KOEPKA: We've been friends for years.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah.

BROOKS KOEPKA: We see each other -- I think a lot of people forget that we all live probably within 15 minutes of each other in Jupiter, and everybody plays the same golf courses, so we see each other pretty much every other day.

I mean, I don't go a day without seeing a guy out here, so there's always conversations. There's always people talking, having lunch, doing whatever, practicing together. It happens way more frequently than I think people realize.

Q. Brooks, obviously a chaotic week at your past employer, I guess. How much have you kind of talked with some of your old colleagues there about what's going on with LIV the last week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I'm not there, so I can't speak for anything they're doing. I've talked to a few guys just through text, but that's it. Everybody seems -- as long as everybody is okay, we're okay.

Q. Shane, I'm a local television reporter. I saw you talking with Charlie Smyth on the course. Did you know of him before this week? Have you been following the Saints kicker's game, and are you a football fan?

SHANE LOWRY: A few questions there, but Charlie -- I was actually explaining to Brooks out there, early on I knew Charlie was going to walk a few holes. His story is incredible. He kicked his first football, American football, only in 2023, and now he's kicking for the Saints. It's a pretty quick rise to that level of that sport.

Yeah, I've been following what he's been doing. He had a couple of pretty cool kind of occasions last season where he kicked the game winner. He's been doing very well.

It's just interesting to get to talk to him. He's only young. God, he's only 24. Makes me feel quite old, but you know, it's nice to see Irish people doing well, and especially over here in America. It's nice to come to these places and seeing young, successful Irish people. I'm going to go and have lunch with him now. I think we'll stay in touch after this.

I am a fan of football. I really got into it especially last season. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, I said a few weeks ago, I started following the Bears for some reason. I might have to switch over to the Saints now with Charlie, but you never know.

Q. Did you know of him before he joined the Saints?

SHANE LOWRY: So I would have -- you know, he was young playing Gaelic football in Ireland. I wouldn't have really known who he was until the start talking about the international pathway. I'm not sure of all the correct terms, so correct me if I'm wrong.

A lot of Irish people were -- it created big news back home in Ireland, the fact we could have a kicker. There was a few guys going for it in the NFL. It's been incredible what he's done.

I don't think people at home even realize how big it's been or how big it is, you know, to go from not doing something to two years you're at the top of the sport. It's pretty cool. Obviously I'll be watching him from here on in, and hopefully he can get that starting place on the Saints and kick some winners.

Q. Brooks based on where your game is right now coming into this event, what parts of your game do you think you're going to be able to help Shane out with, and what parts of Shane's games are going to complement what you are doing? Shane, vice versa. How do you guys complement and help each other out on the golf course?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think the way Shane drives the ball is really impressive. I think the way he's able to shape it both ways. I think the game has gotten so much of a bomb it and just hit it far where I can see what he's doing. I hear him talk on the tee, certain shapes here and there, where he likes to cut it a little bit, draw it on this hole.

It's interesting the way they do it, but he's a fantastic driver of the ball. His iron play is really, really solid, very consistent. Distance control is quite impressive.

Then around the greens he's always had good hands, and I think around this place you need good hands, because you can get some of the green lies that are quite difficult.

Honestly, we were kind of shocked at how firm the greens were at the end of today. Felt like they softened up the more we played today, which was quite weird.

He's a solid player all around. It's perfect for this event.

Q. Shane.

SHANE LOWRY: He's Brooks Koepka. He's got five majors. You know what I mean?

I think our job for the first two and a half to three days is put ourselves there, and I think when we do, we'll be okay. You know, I had a look only the other day, because obviously I was looking at this week, and I was looking at his stats from this year, and his iron play has been pretty good this year.

My job is to try and hit it in the fairway and let him do his thing, and we'll be okay from there.

Q. Is there any truth to the rumor that you only play with guys that have won at least five majors?

SHANE LOWRY: Exactly. Multiple majors, yeah (laughing).

Q. Brooks, you obviously cut your teeth on the Challenge Tour many years ago. Do you almost feel like being an alternate last week, waiting around all day, not playing, playing in an event like this, do you feel like almost kind of back on where you are trying to prove yourself again? Is there a mental benefit to operating that way?

BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I don't think there's -- I wouldn't say it's a benefit. I wouldn't say it hurts me at all. It's part of the process. I did it to myself, so there's nothing for me to really point a finger at.

If I would have played better golf, I would have been in. So I can look at myself as to why I didn't play last week. I think it was like 1.4 FedEx points shy. I mean, that's one shot through the whole year thus far, and I would have been in. So it would have made at least planning the rest of the year a lot easier because right now it's up in the air. I did it to myself, so --

SHANE LOWRY: You're all right after this week (laughing).

BROOKS KOEPKA: See, I like that. I like that. Play good this week, and everything will take care of itself.

Q. It's tough for us to obviously look at stats from the Masters because they don't have strokes gained, things like that, but how do you feel like your putting has improved since the beginning of the year?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it's gotten a lot better. I've got a tremendous understanding of where I'm at. The first month is never going to be great. You're not going to see just immediately all of a sudden I feel like I'm Jordan Spieth in 2018 when he holed everything. Just doesn't work like that.

But there's been a lot of changes. Obviously number one, the putter, the coach, the mechanics of it all, there's five different things going on, but I feel like I've got a good grasp of it, good control of it, and I'm not seeing -- the dispersion has gotten a whole lot tighter.

Q. Is it stemming from that breakthrough at PGA National? Is that kind of where it all began for you to turn around?

SHANE LOWRY: Let's not talk about that week (laughing).

BROOKS KOEPKA: That was just the first week after working with Mike. That was it. I had probably seven days under my belt at that point.