Q. Shane, how would you characterize the round today?
SHANE LOWRY: Tough. It was -- yeah, it was tough out there. It's so hard in the trees and the wind's swirling. It's quite a strong wind as well. So, yeah, I'm obviously a little bit disappointed at 1-over, but I've not played my way out of the tournament. I'm in a nice position going into the weekend.
Obviously Patrick made a few birdies at the end and pulled away a little bit, but a lot of golf left in this tournament, yeah.
Q. For you what was the most challenging thing about the wind? Was it just the swirling or trying to guess the gusts?
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, look, there's a few holes that are just an absolute disaster out there if you hit a bad shot. Like 14, you're standing there, and I'm a couple off the lead, and you're one swing away from having to think about the cut mark. It's so tight out there.
Yeah, it was the gusts. It was just hard to get the ball pin high, and it was hard to get the ball close. The greens are very firm. And then they were a little crusty at the end.
I found it hard anyway especially from distance to put it there. I kept leaving myself five, six-footers, but managed to clean up nicely.
Q. What's one thing you feel like you need to kind of focus on over the next 36 holes to be there come Sunday afternoon?
SHANE LOWRY: I think I just need to go out and do my thing. I think I've been playing good enough golf. 1-over is not great today, but it's not a disaster. Look, it was really, really tough out there.
I just need to kind of focus on keeping the ball in play and just taking my birdies when I get them because I think I'm playing the golf good enough to kind of maybe challenge at the weekend, but we'll see how that goes.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports