THE 154TH OPEN

July 18, 2026

Shane Lowry

Mixed Zone

Q. Another round in the 60s, and obviously you have a chance tomorrow. What's your feeling about today?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah. I mean, Dermot said to me there when I finished, we're going to need one of our best days, but at least we have a chance.

Look, I fought well. I made a couple of bogeys there because I felt like I played the front nine beautifully. Hit the ball great. Then a couple of mistakes on the back nine early. I sort of knew obviously 14 and 17 were going to be there for chances, but yeah, they're still not straightforward.

I'm hopeful that the leaders don't go too far away. I obviously saw Ryan Fox, what he did, and that was kind of a target I had in my head. If I can get within touching distance of him, I thought the golf course wasn't playing easy that the leaders are not going to go too far ahead, but we'll see how it pans out.

Q. There's a lot of steel in your game this week. The three putts you holed mid-round to get back in under-par figures was an illustration of that; that was quite something.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah. I supposed I'm standing there over every shot and trying to hit the best shot I can, whether it be a five-footer for par or just trying to drive it down the middle of the fairway. It's a tough golf course, and you just have to go out there and do your best.

I felt like I did a good job when things were going against me a little bit because I do feel like I probably should have been better than 1-under after nine, and then all of a sudden you make a silly bogey on 10 and 12 and you feel like the day is getting away from you, and what-if sort of creeps into your head.

I thought I did a good job of staying in my own lane and keeping going on the back nine.

Q. Looks like you might need a Portrush Saturday on Sunday.

SHANE LOWRY: There's a few of them out there. A few of them doing it this week. So it might be my turn tomorrow. One thing's for certain, I'll go out there and give it a go, and hopefully it's a great day.

Q. Coming to the final day of a major in with a chance of winning it, having been there and done it before, are you quite pleased to have given yourself that position?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I'm happy. I'd love to be two or three shots better; don't get me wrong. I wanted to go out there and shoot 5-under today; that's what I had in my head.

But I didn't. I shot the best score I could, which was 1-under. I'm going to be a few back going into tomorrow, but if I can go out there and get off to a good start on the front nine -- I played the front nine well this week. If I can do that tomorrow and hole a few putts as well, I feel like I can get myself there or thereabouts going into the back nine.

But it's great; I really enjoyed today. Being out there with Ludvig, he's playing great golf as well. It was an enjoyable day. It was a grind at times, but I did enjoy it out there.

Q. Mentally that must make you feel good heading into tomorrow.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I'm happy that I went out and allowed myself to enjoy it because it's a tough theatre to be in. The wind is whipping across the course. The course is bouncy. Every bad shot or every average shot is showing up really badly. It's just a difficult place to play golf.

But like I said, I thought I did a good job today.

Q. I know you look at leaderboards on the way around, but you're probably noticing that nobody is pulling away. That was a very nice par on the last, a two-putt from 80 feet.

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it was. Dinner would have tasted not great if I had have three-putted that because I felt like I hit a great putt on 17 and I was obviously thinking going into 17 if I can sneak a 4 here and par the last, I feel like I'm in a great spot.

I still feel like I'm in a good spot. I'm in a decent spot on the leaderboard where I feel like my game is in a good spot. Yeah, we'll give it a go tomorrow.

Q. Can you share your thoughts on the penalty Bryson received last night?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I mean, looks to me like he improved his lie, and that's the rules of golf. Yeah, it was interesting watching it last night. None of us were expecting it. I was watching the end of the golf -- yeah, that's the rules of golf. It's unfortunate for him, but that's the way it is.

Q. What did you make about the reaction to it afterwards?

SHANE LOWRY: I'm not going to stand here and say that much. It's not really much on me. Obviously it is what it is. It happened. I see he's doing okay today. It was obviously going to be very tough for him to go out and play today after that happening, but yeah.

Q. You may have about 10 guys ahead of you going into tomorrow. How far back is too far back? How close would you like to be?

SHANE LOWRY: I'd love to be leading (laughter.)

I don't think in an Open Championship on a course like this where you see low scores, high scores, I don't think -- not that you can't be too far back, but I feel like anyone inside the top 20 will surely feel like -- if they have the round of their lives they feel like they can win The Open tomorrow.