SHANE LOWRY: It's a week where it wasn't far away. Played some lovely golf. Frustrating.
Q. After yesterday, it really slipped away?
SHANE LOWRY: Started Thursday and the back nine yesterday. Yeah, look, I was -- I played good enough this week. It's disappointing. It's just disappointing that this is the last one of these for nine months. That's the big thing.
A couple of weeks now and get ready for the playoffs. Hopefully I can have a run at that. It is what it is.
Q. Did you find something last night that you said you were going to?
SHANE LOWRY: No. (Laughter). I shot 2-under with no wind, so obviously not. I hit some decent putts there, but nothing went in. It was one of those days again. It's been -- I feel like it's been a tough week.
Yeah, I've not been far away. Look, it is what it is. It just shows you where I am and where my mental state is at that I'm pissed off at finishing there in a big tournament like this. Would have been happy to have it five or six years ago, but not anymore.
Like I said, I love these weeks. It's what I play golf for. It's what I get out of bed in the morning for. Just another eight or nine months without one. So I'll be counting down the months to the Masters again.
Q. TOUR Championship is --
SHANE LOWRY: TOUR Championship for the PGA TOUR is obviously huge, and got some big tournaments left in Europe as well. So, yeah, I've obviously got a lot to play for. I'd really like to get back to well inside that top 20 in the world. I've got that to play for towards the end year.
Yeah, hopefully I can just kind of keep doing what I'm doing and find a bit on the greens, and I'll be dangerous enough.
Q. Is there any stage yesterday where you were too hard on yourself?
SHANE LOWRY: No. The only thing I could say about yesterday is I probably wasn't ready for the situation I put myself in. I was coursing along at 5-under and not really doing much, and all of a sudden I was in with a chance to win The Open. I was, like, wow.
Then I just kind of -- look, the way it was, it was tricky out there yesterday. When you're not holing those 5-, 6-footers, or even when you're holing them, when you're not comfortable out there, it puts too much stress in your head and stress on every part of your game.
Look, that's just the way it is. That's this game. That's the game we play in. Yeah, it's disappointing obviously.
Q. Good to have a smile back on your face.
SHANE LOWRY: It's been a tough weekend. I've never felt as good coming into a tournament like this. I felt like I could really -- this could be my week. It's not, so I'm obviously very disappointed. I'm going to have two weeks off now, and I'm going to go back to Ireland for a couple of weeks.
I haven't had time in Ireland for a long time without my golf clubs, so I'm just going to put my golf clubs away for a couple of weeks and spend some time with my family and my kids and maybe do a little trip in Ireland and enjoy myself.
Q. Do you miss the fact that it won't be another five years before it comes back here? Do you wish it would come back here more often?
SHANE LOWRY: Look, this is obviously a very special venue, but I feel like we play great venues. We're back in Portrush in a couple of years. Where's it next year?
Q. Liverpool.
SHANE LOWRY: Liverpool. I had a good week there back in 2014.
Q. Troon is the year after.
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, so I don't care where it is, I just love playing the tournaments, you know what I mean? I just love everything about it, how big they are and all that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports