THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Shane Lowry to the interview room at the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. You're making your ninth appearance at this event. You've got three top-5 finishes in your last four starts. Just some comments on being back at PGA National.
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it's a tournament I always enjoy playing every year. I live here now, so it's a home event. I get to stay in my own bed, which is nice. I really like this golf course.
I like that the rough is a bit thicker this year. It was a little bit too easy last year, I thought. I don't want to exactly see 59s around here, but yeah, I hope the scoring is a little bit more difficult this year and it plays like it used to.
I'm happy to be here, and another tournament, another week. Yeah.
Q. You're playing five weeks in a row. A lot of guys don't want to do that, but that's their decision. Playing five weeks, what does it do for you? Does it help you get in a groove? Do you ever feel fatigued from it? Why are you putting yourself through that?
SHANE LOWRY: Well, I think if it was five weeks in a row and there was no home weeks in there, I wouldn't play five weeks in a row. I think the fact I'm saying at home this week makes it easier. I get to drive to Bay Hill next week, so there's no flights. I get to see my family. They get to come to Bay Hill and THE PLAYERS. There's a lot in there that makes the five weeks easier than sort of if you're five weeks away from home.
Then I feel like I've been out on TOUR a long time now, and I play a lot of tournaments where I don't particularly like the golf course or I don't play well around there. I need to take advantage of the courses that I play well on and that I like playing. There's certain times you just have to do it.
I think the five weeks, it's all about managing my time and trying to rest and recover and just stay fresh as much as I can because obviously the fifth week is THE PLAYERS, which is obviously one of our bigger tournaments.
But there's a lot in there that is the reason I'm playing the five weeks.
Q. There are players who have talked about when they're home, they don't like to have to think about golf. How do you handle that aspect? How do you feel about you're home but you're still not home; you're out here a lot?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, but when we're home, it's not that we're not thinking about golf. We're still working. We're still at the golf course practicing every day. I'm sure those guys are, too. It's fine. I get to stay in my own bed. I'm playing early tomorrow, so I won't get to drop the kids to school but I get to pick them up. Friday I get to drop them to school. It's a nice week.
My dad came and he's staying with me. It's just nice. I like it. Some people might not, but I do like it.
Q. You've had such success at this event even as the tournament has gone through some different iterations. What is it about this course, this tournament or just Florida golf in general that speaks to your game?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I really enjoy Florida golf. It's funny, when I moved here first or when I started coming, when I played the old Honda Classic as it was back when I started playing here, I couldn't figure out how to chip around these greens. I wish it was overseeded back then.
But I figured it out, I moved here, and you kind of learn how to deal with the Bermuda and the Florida grasses, and I do love Florida golf now. I really enjoy this tournament, Bay Hill, PLAYERS. I really enjoy going to play the Valspar, even though I might not play this year. I'm not sure I can play six in a row. But there's certain courses I love playing, and a lot of them are Florida courses.
Q. To continue with the line of thought about this course, do you worry about this tournament? I know it's a tough spot in the schedule, but do you worry about the viability of this tournament going forward because it seems to be -- it's in a tough spot schedule-wise and doesn't always get the fields that maybe it would want?
SHANE LOWRY: I'm sure every tournament, bar the Signature Events, don't get the fields that they'd want. I think it is in a very tough spot in the schedule, probably one of the toughest spots in the schedule, and I don't think it's anything to do with the course. The reason players don't play is players don't want to play that much. It is a tough stretch of golf.
Riviera can typically play really tough. Bay Hill plays very, very difficult, and then you've got THE PLAYERS. You beat yourself up playing this type of golf.
Do I worry about it? I don't worry about it because of where it is. I think it's a great place to come play golf, and I think -- yes, I do wish a lot of other players would play, but that's their choices, and they have played over the years. But I don't; I don't really worry about it as a tournament. I think it's a great tournament, and I've always loved it. I've always said that. It's one of my favorites.
Q. Separately, the NBA All-Star Game was just a couple weeks ago and they changed the format to a U.S.-versus-the-world sort of tournament. The commissioner said they did that with Ryder Cup in mind, and the Olympics just ended and there were athletes over in Italy talking about how when they watched Ryder Cup it made them excited about knowing what's coming and that feeling of representing your country on the Olympic stage. How cool is it for you to hear that tournament being talked about by athletes from other sports saying, yeah, I point to that, that inspires me?
SHANE LOWRY: That's pretty cool. I actually haven't heard people say that. Yeah, it is pretty cool. I think the Ryder Cup is a unique event, and I think -- I've noticed after Bethpage the audience that it reached was much wider than a normal golf audience. I think it's pretty cool for the sport to have the Ryder Cup every two years. It's an amazing event, and I'm very lucky to be a part of it the last three times.
I'll be doing everything I can for the next year and a half to be part of the one in Ireland.
Q. Along those same lines, there's a lot going on in your homeland across the pond in Ireland. You have the Irish Open at Doonbeg; you have the Walker Cup at Lahinch; and Adare Manor will host the 2027 Ryder Cup. Can you talk about Ireland as a place for golf right now and perhaps the pride you may feel that Ireland has gotten all these events?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I think as a country, as a golfing country over the last 20 years, we've been very lucky with the success we've had, starting with Padraig Harrington, his major success, and obviously into G-Mac and Clarkey, Rory, myself. I think we've batted above our weight at the top level.
To have the Open in Portrush twice in the last seven years, to have the Ryder Cup going there, the Walker Cup, the Irish Open has gone from strength to strength every year, and then there's talk of maybe another Open Championship coming to somewhere else in Ireland at a stage. I think as a golfing nation we're pretty blessed.
Look, I think golf is a great sport, and I feel like in Ireland golf is very accessible to a lot of people. We have a lot of public golf and a lot of affordable golf.
I think the way I grew up was -- we didn't play golf in my family, but golf was very accessible where I grew up and how I grew up. I'm very fortunate that I grew up in Ireland, and it was that way for us.
Like I said, we're just blessed to have the success we have because I think when you have players who are successful and the kids can look up to you, I think that's what makes people want to play the sport.
Q. You talked about your affinity for more difficult setups over the course of this tournament. How far away do you think this layout is from being the same test it was maybe three, four, five years ago where winning scores were 6-, 7-, 8-under?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, I don't think it is that. I think it's like probably -- it's probably going to play easier than that, which I don't like. I'd prefer to see it -- look, I'm a member of a few courses down here, and all Bermuda, and the golf courses this time of year are incredible. The Bermuda golf courses down here are unbelievable.
I feel like it's going to look great on TV. It's going to be lovely and green. It's going to be amazing. But I probably would like to see a bit more of the old traditional setup. It is what it is this week, and you just have to deal with the cards you're given.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports