Shane Lowry Interview: Winning the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, a valuable lessons he’s learned from Tiger Woods and why being himself is the key to his success

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
It's episode fifty five of of Course with Claude Harmon
come to you every Wednesday. It's major championship week and
who better to have on the podcast than the two
thousand nineteen Open champion Shane Lowry. Been trying to get
Shane on the podcast for about a year. Glad we
are finally able to do it. It's a good one.
I think everybody's going to enjoy it. Before we get

(00:32):
to the interview, let's take a moment to thank one
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(00:55):
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(01:16):
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that's code off course for one dollars off at rap
sodo dot com backslash off Course. And now let's get
to the interview with Shane Lowry. My guest is almost

(01:43):
a year in the making, China. We've been trying to
get you on the podcast for over almost a year.
Now we finally got you on. It's a big, big
day for for the podcast. I just wanted to make
sure that the podcast was legit before I don't let
me that. Yeah, no, thanks for having me, claud. Let
me tell you, man, you've been on a hell of
a run. I mean this Masters tied for third RBC

(02:07):
consecutive weeks. You've got chances to win, Um, you gotta
feel and then second already this year at the Honda
where I mean, I'm there's no way to say this
without saying it. You get fucked by by the weather. Um,
you gotta be you gotta feel pretty good about the
way you've been playing this year. Yeah, it's been a
good season so far. It's, yeah, I'm just trying to

(02:30):
ride the way. You know what it's like, cloud, It's
you kinda try and get through the tough times as
best you can, and you just when you when you've
got the good times gone and you're playing some good golf,
you just kind of got a ride the wave as
long as you can, and hopefully I can. You know,
it's a nice time a year to be coming into
some form and playing good golf. We've obviously got majors
come and take the past, and I'm excited for the summer.

(02:52):
One of the things I think is is really impressive
about the way you've been playing is you know the
Masters on Sunday, your birdie, you're right and you're you're there.
I mean, obviously everybody knows they've got to go out
and try and do something special to beat Scotti, Scheffler.
I mean the guys playing golf, you know, at an
unbelievable high level. You Bertie too, you're right in there,
and you double bogey four and triple you tripled for yeah, tripled.

(03:16):
Because I'm watching on the score and I'm watching, you
know bigly because the leaderboards aren't there. They're not a
ton of them, and they don't get updated. You can't
look at your phone, and so I'm seeing you Bertie too,
and I'm like big Shano gonna make a run and
then you triple four. But then Bertie's at six, eight
and nine, and then you make some birdies on the

(03:36):
back nine you finish, you know, top five. I mean,
that was pretty impressive because a lot of guys on
something me you. I mean, you know more than anybody
that I've never played there. That golf course is so hard.
You make a triple bogey and it can really really
just it's a gut punch. Did you have a talk
with yourself and say, okay, I gotta pull myself back
up here because it's so easy, especially on Sunday because

(04:00):
you know at Augusta, you know you've got to do
something special when you're that far back. Did you have
to Did you have a talk with yourself and say,
all right, come on man, Yeah it was you know,
the thing was I opened up beautiful like I I
missed a I missed about a seven ft on the
first for Birdie Birdie. The second, I missed about a

(04:23):
nine t fter on the third for Birdie. So like
I've opened up like a more under true three and
you're kind of like you're feeling it, and it's you know,
you know it's going to be a difficult day. I
know what Scotty Scheffler's going through, so I know he
could shoot seventy five. He obviously didn't, but I know
he could, um, And you're trying to stay in it.

(04:45):
And then I just hit, like, you know, I hit
the worst shot of it all year, probably in a
long long time, the worshot of h and just at
the wrong time, and and yeah, I ended up making six. U.
I walked to that fifty and I thought to myself, well,

(05:06):
you're out of the tournament now, so it's going to
be less stressful for the next three or four hours. Yeah,
but it was one of those where I, uh, yeah,
you've got no choice. I played. I played with Tiger
and Scottie Scheffler, believe it or not, I played with
them the November Masters, the one dusting one. I played

(05:29):
with Tiger in the final round and he made a
ten on the twelve and I watched him not give up. UM.
So that was like a great lesson that I got
from him. That day like he's the greatest golfer has
ever lived. He has no chance to win the Masters.
He makes a ten on a part three and he
tries his nuts offer the next six holes, and for me,

(05:52):
that is one of the best lessons that I've ever got.
So I was like, well, nobody's going to feel sorry
for me, nobody's going to come out here and you know,
give me a hog and tell me it's okay. I
just need the man Open play some good golf for
the next three hours. And and they did, and I
shot five wonder from there, and so it was it
was kind of like bitter sweet. It was. It was

(06:13):
obviously a really good week, but they came off the
course quite dejected that I really felt like one shot
cost me a good chance to win the Masters, you know,
and it's for people that you know, the Masters is
obviously I was fortunate enough to win the Open in
Ireland and that's that was one of the coolest things

(06:34):
that could ever happen to me, if not the coolest,
and in golf. And to win the Masters is it's
up there. It's it's one of the most special places
in the world, is one of the most special tournaments.
In the world and to have it like so close
ye yet so far, that's kind of like it's tough

(06:54):
to take and it's a hard pilless all on the
Sunday evening. But it was an amazing week. It was
very special and uh yeah, I really enjoyed it. But
obviously Scott he played the golf and he's playing the
golf at a minute, and um, all credit to him.
When when everyone that's listening, when when you stand up
your professional golfer, you've won an Open championship, you know
you you're somebody that people watch on TV. It is

(07:17):
the closest I think the average golfer that's sitting watching
or the fans outside the ropes that are watching, when
when when you stand up on the part, I mean,
that's a difficult shot. I mean, let's be honest, it's
not like you're it's not like you're hitting a wedge right.
I mean, what club did you hit into into four?
It was a three armed to be honest, Well, looking back,
and I should have four. It was ill. See I

(07:38):
was feeling that I started well, I was swinging when
I was hitting the ball well, and it was like
I just couldn't get there with four arn, but like
three arm was an awful lot of club because there's
a there's quite a decent gap there. There's like a
hit my four and two twenty and I hit my
my three armed close on too forty, like forty. So
it was kind of was having to hit like this
big high court and I flared it and whatever. But um,

(08:03):
it was just I was trying to be too perfect
with the three are and which is a bit silly
around the gusta. To be honest, I should have just
hit four and that's an easy bunker shot from shore
the foreign in the bunk are and up and down
it book. As a pro golfer, it's hard hard to
tell yourself to miss the green. And that's what a
gust to does to here, you know what I mean.
That's kinna, that's the way it is. But yeah, but
when when the fans see you hit a shot like that,

(08:23):
they kind of go, wow, I hit shots like that, right,
I mean, And we just we don't expect, you know,
as as as people that watch you guys play the
game at the level that you play at, we we
sometimes we're guilty of thinking you guys are robots that
you're you know, And I think the fans don't realize that.
You know, I see it because I see you know,
you guys. You know, I see the players your day

(08:45):
in and day out. But when you hit a bad
shot like that, I get so many people that DM me,
you know, questions for the podcast. How do you recover
from that? You know? And and and I think that
maybe do you think sometimes that the average golfer put
so much pressure on themselves and kind of almost at
times maybe has unrealistic kind of ideas of how I mean,

(09:09):
we played with Lando Norris last week and you know,
f one driver from McLaren and he played at the
Grove with DJ and stuff and he's missing Green's, you know,
with seven, you know, six irons and he's just beating
himself up. I say, when you beat yourself up for
I actually seeing talking to DJ, I've seen one of
the best quotes I've ever seen was from DJ. It

(09:29):
was when he was one number one. He was like, look,
I'm the best golf from the world and I've hit
some of the worst shots that you've ever seen. But
you just get on with it. That's kind of the
way it is. And everybody hits bad shots, and you know,
engulf it's actually a ghost. To kind of a ghost
is a bit different because it can really aughost that

(09:49):
can really highlight bad shots. Whereas there's certain courses, you know,
most courses we play Claude, you get away with hitting
bad shots here and there, and you know, you get
up and down and it's kind of it's kind of
you know, your sugar coat at all and whatever, but
like every day really bad shots, but you just kind
of have to. I always say professional golf is not

(10:11):
about it. It's not about your good shots. It's how
good your bad shots are. That's kind of you know,
that's that's what. That's what when you're when you're when
you win a tournament or when you do well, it's
kind of your bad shots are not really that bad
and you know you've obviously had some great shots along
the way, but um yeah, it's you just get homanly
even know the choice, but that this is the thing.

(10:33):
You're right there on your own. You like, you know, teammates,
you can't pass it off there, you can't you know,
you can't do any where, you have no choice, but
you just get home. It's, you know, that's what golf
is about let's just get ometer and move on and
try and choot as good as cour as you can.
So you go to the following week, I think, you know,
you've played well around that golf course. To me, it

(10:54):
would seem like when you get to a golf course
like hilton Head, it kind of makes you kind of
go like this kind of golf. Yeah, yeah, I like,
you know, having to shape the ball and having to
work it and like getting like low shots off the
tea and and just kind of you know, it's hitting head.
The greens are really small there and it's hard to
hit greens, so you're gonna be doing a bit of

(11:15):
chip and I enjoy that, Like, you know, I just
like the vibe there. It's it's pretty chilled out and
it helps the week after Masters, like Masters, one of
the most stressful weeks you know, over the year, like
they always is. And you're going down to hilton Head.
It's almost like a kind of a little bit of
a vacation, Like it's kind of you know where you're
you have my family there and you're chilling now stay

(11:35):
in the house with the fleetwoods on the beach. This year,
we all like there's level of us in the house
and it was like a like a big old holiday
and it was it was just great fun and I
really just really enjoyed the whole week. And yeah, I
like the golf course, and obviously I came close there
as well. And that one hurts a little bit because
I felt like I should have won that tournament. But
like I said, it is what it is, and I

(11:56):
get on with them, move on, and you know, yeah,
it's it's another one that got away. I feel like
I've had a couple of those this year, which is
it's hard to take because it's it's hard to win
out in the PGA Tour, and it's hard to kind
of it's almost hard. It's it's very hard to get
yourself in contention, you know, consistently and really in contention
where you have a good chance. And and I had

(12:16):
to think of one shot lead with five or six
holes to five holes to play, UM, If I play
those last five holes in level power, I win UM.
And that's kind of that's disappointing. You know. One of
the things that you know that I've been trying to
use this podcast for as a platform is to talk

(12:37):
to players and talk to people listening, But I've been
saying I say it pretty much every episode. Big numbers,
double triple bogies are just so destructive. Yet you have
you have two legit chances back to back weeks, one
in a major, one another big tournament and one I mean,
if you make a bogey, I mean, the difference between

(12:59):
making I mean, and we see this Shane all the time,
and I think it's important to the fans really if
you have a if you have a ten twelve footer
for bogey and make it, doesn't it feel like you've
made an ego? Yeah? If Yeah, it feels it's it's momentum,
like golf is, golf is. There's a lot of golf
about momentum. When you hold a power pup, when you

(13:21):
hold a bogie. But when you save a shot, you
feel like it's it's definitely better than making a pup
for Bertie because you feel like you've you've done something.
You know, you just feel like you really saved the
shot and you said it there. If you keep the
big numbers off the card, when you you need to
keep the big numbers off the card, you can't. On
the PGA Tour, you can get away with making a

(13:41):
double one at once, but like you can't, you can't really,
and it's just so hard to give up two shots
to field because these guys in the Pigeon Tour so
good and you know they're the best in the world,
and um, yeah, you just have to keep the double
top of the card and like you knows, two weeks
and a row or two chances to win them in
two big numbers, like and it cost me. Didn't cost

(14:01):
me the Masters, but it definitely cost me head. When
you get into the Hunts and you're you know, on
the back nine on Sunday or you're around the lead
early Sunday, what does that feel like? I mean, are
you aware of it? Is it? Is it a different
feeling that you you have as a player that you're
on the back nine and all of a sudden you
make maybe two birdies in her own You look at

(14:22):
the leaderboard and you're like, okay, I'm right, I'm either
leading or on one day? What I mean, emotionally and physically,
what is it? What does it feel like? Do you
feel like does this something change? Yeah? It's um I
always say it's it's funny that I can just speak
for me because I don't know what anyone else is feeling,

(14:43):
but it's almost like a little bit unenjoyable. Well, it's
the coolest thing in the world as well, if you
know what I mean. It's like it's it's quite stressful,
um because you're kind of like, you know, you know
how big of a deal it is. Um, Like I
all upon and on eleven that they go into the lead,

(15:03):
I think, and I knew it was going to lead,
and I was pretty happy that. I was like, right now,
seven holes to go and have a chance to win.
This is this is where I want to be. And
it's it's one of those where it's like no major,
especially at the big tournaments, because you know the big,
big tournaments. You know that, like it's it's not just

(15:24):
and it's not just you're not just winning the tournament,
You're you're stamping yourself in history. Like that's what that's
what it is like. And that's that's the kind of
the carrot that dangles in front of you. Had all
those big events, and I always say with this game,
when you're in the big events, you're only ever one
week away from greatness. And it's like, you know, and
that's what it is so it just means so much

(15:46):
that yeah, it's it's somewhat unenjoyable, but when you look
back and you're like, that's the best poet ever. Like
I look back at the Masters. I sat down on
the Sunday night after having a chance to win most
of the week, and that was in contention, and I
was like, that is just that was the coolest thing
in the world. It was a bit disappointed, but I
was like, that is like, that is the reason I

(16:07):
get up in the mornings, That's the reason I go
to range, and that's the reason you play the game.
So let's take a quick break to talk about our
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Go to Cobra golf dot com to learn more. Now
let's get back to the interview. Emotionally talk about how

(16:52):
emotionally and physically draining winning tournaments and being in the
hunt is because I mean, I'm I I see you
guys a lot, and you you know, but when you
have a chance to when I don't think people realize
how much not only is it take out of your physically,
but it takes I've seen it takes a while for it.
You're worn out because you have a chance to win

(17:14):
the following week and the mental strain to stay focused
it must it just just be so unbelievably draining. Yeah,
it is, Yeah, you just it's one of those where
it's just, yeah, you're mentally like you sit down in
the evenings after lea sit down on the Sunday evening

(17:34):
after a chance to win a tournament, and it's just
like and then like the adrenaline is gone. You don't
really sleep great that Sunday night, and you wake up
early on the morning you're thinking about all went on
yesterday and and your mind is just raised all the time,
and it is raining. Is it is tough. It's it's
obviously where you want to be and what you want
to do, but it is it does take it out
here like any tournaments I won in the past, you

(17:56):
definitely definitely does take it out of the week after.
There's certain times where you can actually just ride the
wave and you you will always play well the next
week if you're playing, if you win a tournament, you'll
always play kind of okay the next week at least.
And we will never play your best stuff because it's
just so mentally drained and it's so kind of it's

(18:16):
such a come down because that's what it is. It's
like a huge a drenaline rushman in in the chance
to with a chance to win, and then it's such
a come down like this year, you know, the Masters,
and then hilton Head the following week, and I come
home here to Jupiter and on Sunday night and I
had to go play in New Orleans following week, and
I was like, like, if it was if it wasn't

(18:37):
a team event, I just wasn't going to let pose down.
And I wasn't a team event, and I probably should
have pulled out because I ended up having to wear
those stupid trousers for the week. Um, if it wasn't
a team event, I probably wouldn't have played because I
was just like I was ready for a week off,
Like I was, it was time to have a week off.
I enjoy myself there. So um yeah, going back on

(18:58):
the hand, I I mean, you made four bogies all
week at um one of if not. I think it's
one of the hardest golf courses they play on tour.
I mean, you played so good. The rain comes, You're
standing on the eighteenth hole two part five, I mean
the worst you're gonna make, the worst you're gonna make
is is is birdie. I mean you you you could

(19:22):
get there? Is there anything going back? Looking back now,
you would have done differently or you just physically couldn't
do anything else because the rain was so hard. No, Honestly,
in those conditions, power was a good score. Like it
was one of those where like on TV and I've
looked back on it. I looked back on it and
I was I was standing there, so I know it

(19:42):
was some of the worst rain I've ever felt. The
drops were so big that like it was it was.
I would stand out from under the umbrella and within
like two seconds, my hands, my grip, everything was so
and then I'd have to go back in and dry
it and it was it was. It was disheartened and
it was it was tough. The one thing I would

(20:03):
say about that that week or that the finish to
that tournament. Obviously I was unfortunate with the rain coming in,
but like I was too ahead of five to play
on that golf course and I played the last five
holes and even her and I didn't win, So like
fair play to set he you know, three under for
the last five and that golf course was was pretty good.
And I have to say it was the moralizing when

(20:25):
I stood in the ad and t and I've seen
him over that punker but three yards down the middle
of the fairway, and we knew he was going to
make birdie. I knew I needed to make birdie. And
it was I remember somebody saying to me the following
week because it was like raining really heavy when I
say my ty shot and somebody saying to me, oh,
you look like you rushed your tea shot, and I
was like I felt like choking him. I was like,

(20:47):
you have no idea how how how heavy the rain
was and whatever, but look it is what it is.
And yeah, it was another one that got away, and
another good week and like you know, we all we
all towards something, and we were towards the FedEx coup
and stuff. So I've made some good points there, and yeah,
you've also hopefully I can hopefully I've said it like

(21:10):
I was hoping it was going to reap in the
golf cards. We're going to repay me at the Masters,
but I'm hoping they can repay me next week or
at the Open or the US Open or something somewhere
big along the way. Um two thousand nine, horrendous weather. Again,
you're an amateur, you're playing in the Irish Open, you
win in a three whole playoff? What was that been?
What were your expectations going into that? And what I mean?

(21:33):
Can you even remember what you were like back then? Yeah,
it's such a long time ago now it's it's crazy,
it's wow, what day is today? It's actually like it's
almost it's the eleventh of May, the seventeenth to May.
I won that tournament. So it's it's a week like
whatever two thousand nine, thirteen years ago this week and

(21:56):
that's that's back when Pete. That's back when Pete Cowen
called you that the glasses. Yeah, and I remember and
I never played at tour. I've never played a professional
event before, and I was like probably the number one
amateur in the country at the time. I was doing
quite well and I was after winning some tournaments and

(22:18):
my form was good, and I asked for the invite myself.
I called up our team captain and I said to him,
I said, because there was a big amateur event on
the UK at the time, and it was a Walker
Cup the years, so the big amateur event was pretty
you know important, and but I felt like I was
going to make the walk up team anyway. And I
said to him, I said, is there any chance I

(22:39):
can play in the IRI Show? But like it's just
something I've never done it, I'd love to do it.
And yeah, he called me back and said, yeah, that's done.
So I was like obviously very excited. Um, how old
were you at the time. I was I just turned
twenty two. So I turned twenty two in April and
this was me. So I went to Baltra County out

(23:00):
on the on the Monday, and as far as I remember,
I was just happy to be there. I was in
the tour trouke, I was getting fully that, you know,
got myself, a couple of new edges, and you know,
bits and pieces, and you know, four dozen golf balls
in your locker. You know, you're kind of like, this
is what I've hit the big time here, and um yeah,
I I with no expectation other than I'm happy to

(23:24):
be here and if I make the I'd be unbelievably happy.
And then I started off the horn and never forget this.
I started off the tournament three over through five for
the tournament, and I was eighteen under for my next
thirty one holes. Unbelievable. And I was fifteen under after
two rounds. I was leading by two shots, and I
was like, oh my god. I remember sitting now with
my brother that night in the house we're staying in,

(23:46):
and I was like, what the hell is going on here?
And I didn't say hell, I said something else, but
what the is going on here? I was like, this
is just and you know, for somebody, I got through it.
I somehow. And I look back on that clock and
I see amateurs playing tour events, and I play a
practice around as amateurs plant tour events, and and if

(24:07):
they say to me, you know, I think I have
a chance of winning this, we got laughed them off
the golf course because I just think it's it's an
incredibly hard thing to do, and it's something that yeah,
it's unbelievable thing to have my CV and obviously look
at give me it gave me a two and a
half year exemption and give me a really big kick
start for my whole career. You didn't you made the

(24:28):
choice to turn pro. It was a Walker Cup year. Um,
was that something that you struggled or thought about or
was the opportunity to turn pro at that stage of
your life and your career just bigger than playing in
you know, on the GB and I team for the
Walker Cup. Yeah, so, um, I thought about thought about
it for probably like an hour. It was. It was

(24:50):
one of those where, um, the time of year, so
the tournament was in made, the Walker Cup was in September,
so it was like quite a big gap between the two.
So I was I remember I spoke to Rory about it.
Rory called me on the way home that night and
he's like, he pretty much said to me, It's obviously
not that big of a decision, is it. And I

(25:11):
was like, no, I'm going to turn pro next week,
you know, that's kind of that's where I'm at. And
he's like, good, I'm glad to hear that, and and
he gave me a bit of advice and he you know,
he talked to me about, you know, go and go
to this, this and this for like sponsorship and stuff
like that was pretty cool, like and um, yeah, so
I had to walk up up Captain onto me the
following day and whatever, and it was looking back on it,

(25:35):
I think it was definitely the right decision. Would have
loved to play Walker Cup obviously, but you know, those
those few months from me to September, that the learning
curve that I got there, Like you know, I've quickly
figured out that it wasn't good enough. Um that it
wasn't good enough to play consistently well on the tour.
So um, you know, I had to do something and

(25:56):
I worked hard at it and I became better and
and I worked on the right things on my coach, Neil,
and we you know, I ended up getting to a
level where you know, I can compete at that, you know,
a good level every week. So I do look back
in those and I look back on Acron was a
big one for me. I played Acron that year, and
I remember like my first event in America around you know,

(26:22):
I didn't know what the course of like it was.
It's one of the hardest, most a mandment golf courses
that we played. And I shot twenty over for the week.
I remember, I think it was me and Brian Gay
battling now for the last place or like it wasn't
far off. And then I went back to that golf
course six years later and I wonder, so that's kind

(26:43):
of you know that that was pretty cool if you
had it told me then when I was shooting twenty
over and I shot seventy eight seventy eight in the
first two rounds, so sixteen over for two rounds, I
said in the hotel I was staying in that night,
and I was in tears that even that was. Yeah,
I was, because I was like, you know, maybe I'm
not good enough, like this is you know, this is

(27:06):
this is the standard, and I'm certainly not meeting that
standard at the minute. So um, but thankfully I've good
people around me and they pointed me in the right direction,
and I'm you know, I'm pretty fortunate that way. And
like I said, if you have told me, then sitting
in the hotel and the on the you know, Friday
evening that I was going to go back six years
later and win that tournament probably would have laughed at

(27:26):
just so that was pretty cool. It's not like you
can pick your first UM tournament in the US because
obviously you're playing in Europe. You get into a w
g C guaranteed money, no cut, you're gonna go. But
I mean, you show up to that golf course where
every hole seems like it's five twenty. The part the
part fours there are just it's I mean the rough.
I mean that is a brutal golf course. Yeah, And

(27:50):
I was used to playing like this was in that
tournament was in August, and I won in Maze, and
I played the European Tour, and anybody played that played
the European Tour and played the PGA tornoss bit a
bit of a difference. The greens are slower in Europe.
They're softer the course or maybe not as difficult UM.
So that's kind of the standard I've seen. And I
was used to playing amateur events and I arrived at

(28:10):
the stolf course and it's like I used to hit
like I used to carry my driver about two hundred
and seventy yards with a big old cut. As you know,
I was, you know, really bad long arm player. I
was a dodgy putter. Um I could chip, which is
probably the only reason I broke eight. You know. So

(28:32):
it was like, yeah, it was. It was definitely an
eye opener, but it was it was, like I said,
the experience between May and September that I would have
if I had a state amateur, that I would have
been playing amateur events or invites on the tour. You know.
I I learned a lot from those those months and
they definitely stood me in good stead over the coming years.
Two thousand twelve, you win the Portuguese Masters, which again

(28:54):
I think I always think and would you agree that
the second way is almost bigger than the first win
because it's validation. Yeah yeah, and yeah, you know, I've
been on tour a few years and I don't Okay,
my first so my first year I wasn't great. That

(29:14):
went after a term pro. But my first full season
I finished sixty one in the order merit, which I
thought was okay. You know, my twenty three, my first
full season, um, I probably I played like a million events.
I was ready to give up golf by the end
of the season. Um, I missed. I know I finished
six or first, because I know I missed out on
the rest of you by by one spot. And then

(29:37):
my next season, which was eleven, I finished. I made
the rest of you buy and did all that. So
I felt like I was progressing each year, you know,
I felt like I was doing okay, I was making
a good living, and I was young and I was happy.
And then you come around to twelve, and you know,
you have one for a while, and you know, I
didn't give myself many chances to win, but poor came

(30:00):
along and I ended up winning that and that was yeah,
that was that was huge, you know because that, like
you said, the first one is is amazing, but the
second one is even all the sweeter. And yeah, give
me an exemption as well, so you're not thinking of
keeping your card and it's little things like that that
that really go a long way. So that was that
was that was good, and um, yeah, I seem to

(30:21):
win like every three years, so um the last time
I won was twenty two now, so hopefully I can
and not going off this year. So let's take another
short break to share a message from one of the
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(30:45):
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talent time, benefits payroll and people. And now let's get

(31:09):
back to the interview. Is there a different Shane in
mindset when you win a European tour event and you
know you've got a two year exemption versus when you
wanted Firestone in two thousand fifteen, and all of a
sudden you realize, holy sh it, I've got a two
year two. There was a two or three three in
American five in Europe three years. I mean, all of

(31:31):
a sudden, you you go from okay, you know, I
mean everybody knows. I mean, everybody's trying to keep their
card right, even the best players in the world right,
it's it's on your mind. I mean, if you're one
of the best players in the world, it's foregone conclusion
that Roy McRoy is not going to lose his car.
But when you do get a three year exemption in
the US and a five year exemption in in Europe,

(31:55):
how does that change like your outlook, your mindset and
you're kind of folk. Does it change your focus? It
just changes the one thing. It just changes your plan
and like you're the plan your whole year, Like that's
that's the big thing I can. I found that since
I won the Open, I'm just able to sit down
in December and I'm able to plan my whole schedule

(32:15):
and stick to that. And that's kind of what I do.
And um, you know my first win in twenty when
my first win as a pro in twent twelve, that
gave me the you know, the exemption for a couple
of years. Like back then, I was I was probably
just I was young. I was a bit naive. It
was probably a bit mad and like I was single,

(32:35):
living in Dublin on my own. It was beard, Yeah,
I was, I was. You know, it's probably I didn't
work hard enough, I know, you know, I didn't, but
I was good, you know, I worked ish, but it
wasn't all good enough to kind of get the next level.
And then you know, I get to kind of obviously
Akron and and I'm after settling down and a bit,

(33:00):
and I win there, and then I gat my PGA
Tour card and that that's when you kind of the
hard work kind of kicked in for me, where you know,
it became very serious. And I wouldn't change anything for
the world, Like my whole career, I wouldn't change anything
because I've really enjoyed myself and I've had a great
time over the years, and I'm at the stage now

(33:22):
where golf and my family is everything. So that's kind of,
you know, that's that's the way I in my life
now and go back then, I lived a good life
and at a great time and and but yeah, when
I got my card in America, that was that was
pretty cool and getting the plan your schedule over here.
But then it was almost like starting to play in
America was almost like back to the thasand and nine again,
where I quickly realized my game probably wasn't sharp enough

(33:45):
or good enough to compete for a full season. On
the PGA Tour, and you know, not that it made changes,
but it just kind of looked at things that needed
to change and they did things a little bit differently
and worked a little bit harder and and um, I
did lose my card after that exemption. Um, but I
got it back quickly enough, so that was that was

(34:06):
pretty nice. One of the one of the big sporting
cliches is they say you learn more from defeat than
you do from victories. You had a four shot lead
Okemon US Open in two thousand sixteen that DJ went
on to win. What did you learn about yourself and
your game that day? And I I learned that I

(34:28):
was good enough. My game was good enough to win
one of those and that that was the biggest takeaway
from that. You know, I I let that get away
from me, and that kind of a still boogs me
to this day. Like I I was, like I, I
did a four shot lead, and obviously DJ clouded back
and I met a couple a few bogies and then

(34:50):
before I knew it, I was standing on the fourteen
green with a thirty ft for Bertie and I was
tied for the lead. But really, in my head, everything
has gone so quickly, and I was, after losing my
fortunate lead, that the tournament was getting away from me.
But I was actually still in the tournament, and you know,
when you think it was a bit silly on my behalf,
but it's just like you know, immaturity and not been

(35:12):
in that position before. And yeah, I do look back
in that and that that tournament does still bug me
a little bit both. I said. Then after Paul Russia,
I said, you know, maybe I might have got pout
Russia if I had got oak Month. So that's kind
of you know, that's that's where I cheer myself up
with that because I was in the I was in

(35:32):
the same situation in Port Rush, and I knew, I
knew what I was going to be faced with. Um.
I knew there's lads going to throw you know, basically
the kitchen sink at me. And even needed to be
very tough and strong and mentally strong that day and
I was, and you know, unfortunate for that. But yeah,
the US opening Oakman was was it was it. It

(35:54):
took me a while to get over to actually, like
I said at the start, I said, when you feel
like you're me ever one week away from greatness. I
sat down the week after and I was like, in
my head, I was thinking, was that my chance? You know?
And and have I let that go? And and thankfully
I got another chance, and thankfully I took it. Is

(36:14):
that something that as a player, when you have opportunities
to win a major championship and you're you're you're so close,
and at that stage in your career you hadn't won
a major championship? Is that real? Do you say to yourself,
fuck this, this could be my only shot because they're
so hard to win. Yeah, I said that after opened,

(36:35):
like that would have been in the days after and
the weeks after, and and I did let it get
to me, like I was. I was on a pretty
good running form that summer as well, and you know,
and then you know, after that, I didn't hit a
shop for I didn't hit a shop for a couple
of years properly, Like I didn't be great for a
couple of years after that. And I'm not saying that

(36:56):
it weighed me down for a couple of years. Definitely
knocked my confidence for some strange reason, because that's one
of the biggest torments in the world. And I finished
second and I left it lacking confidence, which is silly,
you know, And that's what this game does. It's stupid
when you think about it like that. You know, I
beat I beat a hundred and fifty four other guys.

(37:19):
Just one guy beat me and and that's you know,
it's a bit silly when you think about it like that.
But yeah, that's that's just the way it is. And
that's well my mentality. And I definitely got to the Open.
And when I had that chance before Rush, that was
I stood there that morning and Neil remember myself and
Neil went for a little walk around the town where
we're staying, and I said, well, this is like, this

(37:39):
is it. I said, I have no choice but the
win today. I said, it's either going to be the
greatest day of my career or the worst. That's kind
of so I'd share her bust. And you just had
to go out on man Oupen, grow a pair of
balls and go for it. Two of the year you
won the Open, but I thought a huge win for
you was Abadab. I saw you, and Abadavis, you're you've

(38:00):
you've been basing yourself and you'd rented a house in
the US, and I said to you, that week. I said,
are you gonna rerunt a house in the US, And
you said, made up, I don't have status on the
PGA Tour. And then you played really good. You were
in the last group on Sunday, and I thought your
your boys just made the ultimate error in showing up

(38:21):
two of it, because didn't, if I remember correctly, some
of your boys you showed up. And I'm thinking, no, no, no,
you're either there at the beginning for sunately and I'm thinking,
and then you didn't, and I think it was a
little touch and go on the front line, and I'm thinking, oh, no,
this is this the friend has his his his jinks.

(38:42):
This either there from the beginning of the week or
you don't show up. I think I shall lead. And
if I remember correctly, I definitely was it definitely maybe
a couple behind after nine holes, like you definitely lost,
like and then I think I was four behind going
into the back nine or something something like something. Then no, um,

(39:06):
and yeah, I've somehow managed to win the tournament. I
have no idea how Like I just kind of kept
going and I kept on saying, I kept on saying
the bow you know, it was against Richard stern, and
I kept on saying the boy. I said, you know
this guy just like as in this guy, it means
as much to him as it does to me. So
let's just you know, when he got the lead, I
was like, he's gonna be feeling the pressure I was feeling.

(39:28):
Let's just you know, keep going, keep going, keep going.
All a couple of puts at the right time. I
remember all the good putting twelve and thirteen and and
and then yeah, he met a couple of bogies. He
made a bad bogie and sixteen and then I barely
the last hit too unbelievable to say the three with
five ft on the last sol and to put it.

(39:48):
And that was amazing because I remember, like when you
have kids, like I never one with my daughter there.
I remember saying to my wife that morning, no matter what,
I wanted there eighteen cream because if I win, I
wanted to be there, and if I don't, I wanted
someone to cheer me up. Because when you have a
four shot lead, when you have a big league on

(40:09):
into the final round of the torn but if you
don't win, it's it's like it's a funk up. Really,
that's kind of the way it is. It's it's yeah,
you've you've thrown it away and you know it's hard
to take and it's a top one to take. So yeah,
that was. That was pretty good. That was that was
a big win because I did. I was like, I
designed myself a fact right and going back and playing
Europe for a while. I want to get back in

(40:29):
the top fifty in the world. And my big thing
actually was I remember sitting down my whole team at
Christmas in so just before the start of that season,
I remember saying to my team, I'm like, right, Europe
is where it's at for me now for the next year.
The only thing that's going to make me happy for
the next two years, I said, lad is being in

(40:53):
whistling straight. That's my goal, that's my end goal. That's
where I want to be. So how am I going
to do that? So we said, was a scheduled in Europe.
And then I go out the first week and I
win the Abadabbe, back in the top fifteen in the world,
back in all these tournaments in America, and all of
a sudden we're background in the house in Florida again
and it's yeah, it was. And then I kicked on well,
so there, I didn't say well, I didn't pay well

(41:15):
for about two months after that, and I missed the
Coat of the Masters that year. And then after that
I played great all summer like and obviously laiding up
to the Open, but I played great, like it was.
I finished third of Hilton Head, finished second in Canada.
Remember I shot like four over the first round of
the BJA that year in nineteen and finished eight. And

(41:38):
I had a really bad first round the first round
of the US Open and had a decent week after that,
and it was it was you know, golf is when
I look back, and I was on a really good
run of form and then yeah, so it's amazing, like,
you know, one week and just change it for for
you that two thousand nineteen Open Championship. I mean I've
been I've been going to Open Championships, you know, pretty
much the majority of my adult life. It was a

(42:00):
magical week being you know at Port Rush. You know,
every night everybody was down in the harbor. I mean,
the vibe was on the golf course was so good. Um,
you shot sixty seven, sixty seven, And I remember I
was working with Brooks at the time, Ricky Elliott, his
caddy who Ricky grew up playing there. I was, I

(42:21):
was in I was in the bars, you know, every
bar that week. I was with Ricky and you know,
everybody knew him and stuff. But that that Saturday morning,
we looked at the weather forecast and Ricky said to me,
and and Brooks was close that week too. And Ricky
said to me, mate, if the weather stays like this,
there's only one guy that's gonna win this week. It's
gonna be Shane. He's like, yeah, he did, he said,

(42:42):
because he said, the conditions will get tough. It's a
link style golf course. And he said to me on
that Saturday morning. And then on Sunday, you know, I mean,
Brooks was, you know, maybe two or three groups in
front of you, and and and you know he was
writing the mix there as well. But Ricky said to
me that Sunday morning, he said, and if the weather
gets like it's going to get today, he's like the
Scott Shane over and all of it, because he said,

(43:02):
he looked, what is it. I mean, every time the
weather gets bad and you're in a tournament and the
conditions are horrendous, I even do it in my head now,
I'm like, Shane is gonna play good today? And what
is it about bad weather, windy conditions, all of the
bullshit that you have to deal with that you know

(43:25):
your game, you know, It's just it's like the worst
the conditions, the more it suits you do you just
love it? You just don't love it. I don't love it.
So this is my thing with it, right And it
even comes to even even when we're playing nice conditions
were really tough golf courses and really tricky off courses

(43:47):
you know where the US opens, I absolutely love them,
like because I know that of the field are going
to be bitch in the moment the whole week. So
there's seventy and Brooks did a thing. Remember Brooks talked
about it before where he broke it down. He goes, well,
you've really got to beat like five people. It's like

(44:07):
but it's like it's you know, there's definitely you get
to those torments and you get to a day like
you know, I was wanting I watched the Gulf from
Wells Fargold last week and I was like I wish
I was there, you know what I mean, because I
was like I wouldn't enjoy being there at the time,
but I know like they'll be able to deal with it.
And like PJA Tour golfers were a bit soft, and

(44:28):
you know, these guys, they see a day like that,
they just want to get to a private plan and
go home. And that's kind of you know, that's I think,
that's that's the way. That's the way. That's the way
I look at it. And I go out there and
I know it's going to be difficult. I know I'm
gonna make bogies, and but I just need to do
it as best I can. And and my thing I

(44:50):
hate weeks were wings. One of the things I love
about your game and I love about you know, you're
not the prototypical PGA Tour player right out right. I
mean every all the PGA Tour players you see them
every week. Now, you know they're they're six four, they're
six three, they hit it miles. You know, everybody's got this,
you know, quest for perfection. Your golf swing is always,

(45:13):
to me, been your golf swing. It doesn't look like
it's changed, it doesn't look like you're trying to follow
other people. So does that help you when the conditions
are bad because you're not trying to be perfect most
days in general anyway. Yeah, So I when I'm when
I'm playing my best, I'm not trying to swing the club.
I'm trying to hit the shot. And I think that's

(45:34):
that's kind of you know. I think a lot of
guys out there trying and swing the golf club, so
you know, whereas I try, and like if people understand,
if you understand what I'm saying, Like I've been looking
enough that I met Neil Manship when I was seventeen,
and Neil still called me this day, so eighteen years now,

(45:55):
and we we know what works for me. He knows
it works for me, and he knows that like I
can play the game, and I like playing the game,
and I like hitting shots. Um, I've never been technical.
I don't know much about the golf swing, and but
I know what I do, and like I said, I

(46:15):
never go out there and try and swing the club
and try and hit the shots. So that's I think
when the weather gets bad, that does help me because
you can't stand there eight yards into a twenty mile
ro wind and go, well, let's playing two hundred yards.
So if I hit a perfect six, ard that should
be perfect. You're going to need to manipulate the ball somehow,
a manipulator club place somehow. So yeah, I just try

(46:37):
and play golf and that's how I practice as well.
Like I just I go play golf. I don't I
don't hit many balls. Like today. I was at practicing today.
U and I went and I was at the Bears
Club and I was chipping and you know, I love
the chipping green. There is amazing. And I spent a
bit of a while there and there was it was

(46:58):
really windy today and there was probably about thirty balls
left in my back. So I was like, I went
to the range and I shoot have balls down and
I was like, I'll hit I'll just hit like thirty
eight arms, so I'll just hit them just to get them.
I'll just get rid of them. Like and I hit
like ten balls and I was like, I can't believe
I've got twenty left. It was like one of those
where I'd rather be out playing nine holds than doing this,

(47:20):
you know. I mean, I'd rather play the game. And
I think and when I'm practicing, when I'm practicing, the
first shot I hit is always my best one because
I'm more in tuned with like what I'm doing. Whereas
you know, when I keep hitting them, hitting them hit
him and get bored, and like I think of it,
maybe a bit of a short a short attention span

(47:40):
or something. But you know, when I have one shot,
I focus in on that and they do it well
and then then move on and do a different That's
the way me, me and Nell practice. We go around
the green or we go play golf and we hit
different shots and and yeah, so I'm just I'm not
and I tell I'd say that to people. I'm not
your typical PJA Tour golfer. I'm me, and I'm comfortable
being me. And I think a lot of players could

(48:01):
learn not learn from me, but a lot of players.
When you get comfortable in your own scame, when you
get comfortable being you, I think you'll play better golf
because of it. Yeah. I mean, one of the things
I always love about you is your warm up is
really really fast. I Mean, I I watch you sometimes
and I'm thinking, I know when you're teeing off and everything,
and I'm you know, DJ hits a lot of balls everything.

(48:23):
Your warm up literally is just a warm up. Yeah,
I'm I'm like thirty five minutes. Forty minutes is a
long one, and that's depending on obviously how far I
have to walk from green to tea. But I always
put first for like five minutes. I hit some long putts,
then I go and I'll hit balls for only like

(48:45):
ten minutes, and it's it's it's thirty five minutes with
and I will always be ready to go to the
tea ten minutes before my tea time. I'll never be
rushing to the tea. So yeah, that's just do you
know what, that's actually my shorter warm up started. I
used to be like fifty minutes to an hour, and

(49:06):
Tilton Head I was thirty minutes. I used to meet
bow and the pudding thirty minutes before the round and
I should have won the tournament that year I finished
third as well. And yeah, it's it's kind of stayed
with me ever since. So it's kind of thirty five
minutes with you know, and I do a lot of
putting in that thirty five minutes. Well, I'll probably puffer,
probably pull for ten to fifteen minutes of those thirty fives.

(49:28):
So it's, yeah, when did you have that realization? At
at the Open Championship, where I mean you ended up
winning by six shots, but I mean, obviously there's the
aha moment where you're on the golf course and I
just remember that day it stopped raining and the crowds
on the eighteen poll and you and Bow come through
the whole thing. I mean, did you have that realization?

(49:50):
Did you? Were you trying not to get ahead of
yourself and not like let your focus go to the
fact that the holy sh it, I'm I'm, I'm, I'm
gonna be the Open Champion and port rush. I mean,
it's the first time you know that the in a
long time the tournament's been there. I mean, like I
said earlier, it was a magical, magical week. Yeah, So

(50:12):
I I didn't allow myself think about it until I
had hit the tea shot in seventeen, just because I
hated the tea shot in seventeen. It was like a
blind tea shot and in the first round I nearly
lost the ball down left, so I knew I could
kind of lose a ball and things can go a
bit like a ride there. So I was like, I didn't,

(50:33):
But when I look back in it, I did kind
of breathe aside relief after after fourteen Tommy Tommy double
four D and I boged four D and I went,
I went, I went five ahead and then and then
a Birdie fifteen and then like it was over. Then
It was one of those where obviously a calamity, you know,

(50:55):
and the name gives it gives it away, like you
can make you know, you can make a double are
you know before you know? But it was one of
those where when I Birdie fifteen, I was going to
sixteen and I was done. It's almost like you do
start to think of stuff and you start to think
of like people in the past who have not one
from certain situations. I'm not going to name any names,

(51:19):
but um yeah you do. Started like those negative thoughts
were going through my head. But it was it was
one of those where I was, yeah, when I when
I hit my T shirt on seventeen, I was like,
this is it. Oh my god, this is like the
best thing ever. And it all happened so quick that
you just you look for press pause and soak it

(51:40):
all in. But it was just yeah, it was Look,
it was without doubt the best moment of my career
and it probably will be the best moment of my
career as as long as I live, because it was.
I don't know if I can top that. The only
thing that could be on power of that as winning
the Masters. That's the only thing I can that can

(52:00):
come close to that. I've been lucky enough to be
to work with players that have one major chap. I
don't think the people watching the fans realize when you win,
how long, especially when you win a major, how long
the aftermath is? Right, so you go through the aftermath
of it all when and who made the decision to

(52:21):
drive to double I think it's one of the greatest
greatest decisions in Major championship history. Yeah, well, I was like,
so that morning we packed our bags and I said
to everyone in the house, because everyone's in the house
and I'm pour ahead, and nobody wants to say anything
for me because I don't want to piss me off.
And it's like, you know, there's a lot of nerves,

(52:41):
and I can imagine it was a difficult place for
the other people that were there to be in. And
I said, look, I said, no matter what happens, I'm
making up my own bed tomorrow. If I lose I'm
gonna want to be in my own house if I win,
I'm gonna want to go on party in Dublin. So um,
we finish and like, like you said, the aftermath is
like it was definitely two hours, definitely two hours of

(53:03):
stuff I had to do. And I remember it was
in the players now gender's like there must be there's
definitely over a hundred people. There's definitely over a hundred
of my friends and family and they're drinking and having
a good time, and I'm running around the media and
every time I walk in, there's a big chair and
everyone's having a great time. And and then we get
into the car and drive to Dublin and we get

(53:25):
to Dublin like one we have one am, I'd say,
and and yeah, we we got to my my friend's bar,
Aland's bar, and like one thirty. And yet we had
the best week you could ever ask for. It was
incredible and it was it was one of those where

(53:45):
anytime I have a chance to win a big tournament,
now I just said the boy, I just want to
win just because I want that week again. I want
that feeling of Yeah. So that was that was pretty
cool because I remember normally the normally the Open champion
would stay on and do a media day the following day,
and the RNA were asking us to do that, and
I was like he said to Brian, was like, tell him, like,

(54:06):
is there any way we can do it on Tuesday?
And I did it on Tuesday, and so yeah, it was.
It was incredible. It was the great memories and like,
I don't actually talk about it that much anymore because
it's a few years ago and I don't get asked
about it that much anymore about and do start talking
about it brings back so many good memories. And you

(54:27):
I think that scene of view with the band and
Bow and you see what was the song the name
of the song that you were singing, the Fields of
happened right and Bow was all of my drink. He
was like still caddying for me, hold of my drink,
and it was it was yeah, it was yeah, we
you know, we just had a good party, and it
was it was one of those when we got to

(54:48):
the bar, it was like obviously word I got around
and I was coming, so it was very busy. But
as the people who we didn't know kind of fizzled
out and it was all just my friends and stuff,
like it was maybe four or I they am That's
when I was like, it was just you know, sitting
back there, You're sitting back with the Clarat joke on
the table, and this is like my friends who are like,
especially my friends there are golfers and really into golf,

(55:10):
are like, what the hell has just happened? You know
what I mean. It's like, oh my god, And yeah
it was. It was one hell of a time. Like
it was. It was the best it was. Honestly it was.
It was the best best week you could ask for. Oh,
how have you managed to stay so normal? I mean,
you're our friends, Stephen Grant. We always talk, you know,

(55:33):
the two of us were always talking about how you know,
whether you've won a major championship or whether you know
you're just you're just a normal guy. You've moved to
the States now, but you're you're to me, you're no
different and to me, you're you're still very very at
your was watching the football. You're always watching the football,
the rugby and stuff. Is it important for you to

(55:54):
not have the p G A tour life and now
that you spend time in America's if you do not
change who you are. Yeah, I don't consciously not try
to change. I just I just don't. Like I'm I
guess like I've obviously got like a few friends over

(56:15):
here now and friends are a few players and stuff
like that, but like I still have my my friends
from home, and like I try and get home as
much as I can. I love getting home, And yeah,
I just tried to be me. I don't know. People
have asked me, like after the open, has a changed
your life? And I was, like, it's probably changed my career,
but it's not really changed my life. Like I don't. Look,

(56:38):
I'm obviously more secure because of it and stuff like that,
and you know, I've I've done well out of it,
and but I look at it and go, it's not
really changed what I do day in day out, or
you know, when I go home, Like I'm from a
very small town. I'm from like a very kind of
normal place, like I'm Beach and Jupiter and these places

(57:01):
down here, in my eyes, is not very normal. Like
funny enough, I actually just went to I went to
visit my daughter's school to save them for the first
time we had like for new parents come in and
like definitely a lot different than the school I went
to when I was growing up. So it's, um, yeah,
it's it's it's different over here. But I just try

(57:23):
to be me, like I just wake up everything and
just trying. I don't know, I don't try to be me.
I just am and this is what you get. Like like,
I don't try to be anyone different than I am. Lastly, um,
you are now a major part of the fabric of
Irish golf as a major champion, Rory, Padreg Darren Clark.

(57:46):
How important have the rest of the golfers that have
come before you? One of the things I love, Um,
you know at the Masters this year you always have
a group at the Majors, you always have a group
of you and the Irish guys, whether it's Graham, whether
it's Rory, whether it's shameless power with Padrick and stuff.
Do you are you conscious that you are now part

(58:08):
of the fabric of Irish golf And there were kids
looking up the way that you looked up to the
great players and they said, listen, Shane Larry won a
major at royal Port Rush, that's what I want to do. Yeah, yeah,
I'm conscious that that that I am and that I'm
a part of that kind of this generation of we're

(58:29):
very fortunate, like we've and I always say, like us
coming after Patrick, like he wanted majors in thousand seven
pous eight, and then it seemed to like snowball, and
you know, obviously Rory g mac Darren, you know myself,
and we've been very fortunate in Ireland and it's kind
of Majors now seemed to be the benchmark for Irish golfers,
whereas before before Patty won his majors, it was almost like,

(58:54):
you know, if you were a top fifty in the
world player was amazing. If if you were playing in majors,
it was amazing. So now for to have Irish players
and even you know, you look obviously Skylie Scheffler when
the Master's Rory finished second, I finished thirds. That's pretty
cool for ours golf as well. And yeah, we we
did have our four ball and it's funny. I just
had dinner but Rory last night and we spoke. He

(59:15):
was talking to Patty and obviously patties into PGA, Shamus
and Rory. So we're going to get another four ball
next week for the four of us, and that's pretty
cool too to have four Irish players playing of majors
because we are a small island and we are a
small kind of you know, not a lot of people
do play golf, and not many, you know, in in
world terms, like we're small countries, only five million people

(59:37):
and you know, obviously a small amount of them play golf,
and and it is cool to be doing that on
the world stage, and it is pretty cool to be.
It is pretty cool to be someone that's people do
look up to. I don't think about it that much,
and I do find it a bit weird talking about it.
But when I do speak to my friends who are
PGA pros and guys who were you know, after the

(59:59):
Opens and Paul Rush, they had a lot more kids
like signing up to golf programs and stuff like that
in my local area as well. And that's pretty cool
when you hear stuff like that. Yet, Wow, it took
a year to do it, but I'm glad we did it.
You got two majors left and you, I mean, you've
got to be the way you've been playing lately, You've
you've got to be and you've got to be one

(01:00:20):
of the favorites, and you've got to consider yourself to
be one of the favorites. You get to go back
to um the old course, your first major in two
thousand and ten when you qualified for that, and you
get to go back as an Open champion. Yeah, that's amazing.
And um it's going to be one of the most
special tournaments that ever the hundred and fifty opening soon Andrews,

(01:00:41):
and I'm going to be like a small part of
it past champion. We don't it's the only at St.
Andrews is anytime d RNA do a champions dinner, it's
gonna be a champions dinner. You know, the legs of
Jack's gonna be there, Gary Player, all the all the
old champions, Tiger will obviously hopefully be there, And it's
just it's it's going to be. It's it's a very
exciting summer. That's always say. I'm playing really good golf

(01:01:05):
with them minute. My form is good, I'm confident, and
it's going to be a really exciting summer and I
can't wait for Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you
next week. And thanks for taking time to do this
perfect cheers dog, thanks for having me. So that was big.
Shane Lowry and UM, Listen, I'm lucky enough to spend

(01:01:27):
time around Shane. He plays a lot of practice rounds,
UM with the guys that I work with, and you know,
he is what you see is what you get, and
you know, Shane is one of the best guys on
the PGA Tour. Really really glad we had a chance
to sit down and talk to him, and UM, He's
gonna keep knocking on the door. Wouldn't be surprised if

(01:01:48):
Shane gets a big win soon. So let's go to questions.
Let's see question about one of players I teach, Marina
alex Um, she won a couple of weeks ago. What
if some of the changes you have made to get
her back into the window circle? Listen, UM Marina does

(01:02:10):
all the hard work. UM, I just help out where
I can. I think one of the biggest things that
um Marina and I have worked on is trying to
get her to become less focused constantly on her technique.
She she sends me a lot of videos. She's always
asking me about her golf swing, and you know, the
majority of the time, I think her golf swing looks
really really good. UM. When she won a couple of

(01:02:32):
weeks ago, out in um Los Angeles, out at Palace
very days. Uh, the Sunday night before she um won,
she had a chance when I think she was, you know,
right near the lead one of the last couple of groups.
And I just told her, listen, go out, have fun,
enjoy the challenge. Um, do things a little slower. Do
your warm up a little slower, walk a little slower.

(01:02:54):
But I think a lot of times when players get
in contention, they can sometimes rush, they can have things
go too fast. And I just told her she had
to believe. I thought she was ready to win again. Um,
I really did. She had one since two thousand eighteen,
but I thought she was ready to win again. And
I just told her, listen, it's just a round of golf.
It's eighteen whole round of golf. There's no places on

(01:03:18):
the scorecard where you can write down descriptions. There's no
place on the scorecard for style. The only thing that
matters is what number you go out and put on
the scorecard. And so I'm always telling her, turn your
brain off, go focus on playing golf, don't worry about
playing golf. Swing, go out and try and hit good shots.
Don't go out and try and not hit bad shots,

(01:03:39):
and she was able to go out and shoot a
really low score on a Sunday. She made a bogey early,
but she said that kind of kick started her and
kind of, you know, woke her up. She was down
the stretch with the number one player in the world.
Um lydia Co was right there, Jeniok was right there,
and it was a huge, huge win for her. And
one of the things that I've constantly been talking to

(01:04:01):
her about is regardless of what her golf swing looks like,
she still has to go out there. She still has
to be able to compete. She still has to go
out and be able to perform. So I thought it
was a big win for her. Um I like the
fact that she said she she didn't look at any
scoreboards because it was interesting. Marina said, sometimes when she
looks at scoreboards, it messes her up because then she thinks, Okay,

(01:04:22):
I'm in the lead, maybe I should start protecting. Okay
I'm not in the lead, maybe I should be more aggressive.
She just kind of focused on one shot at a time.
I know all of that sounds like a cliche to everybody,
but cliches or cliches because they're true, and it was
a big win for Marina. I'm excited. I'm excited to
see what she's going to do in all the major championships,
and um, she's just a cool kid and it was

(01:04:45):
a really really good win for her. Let's see, do
you need to focus on the body movement and positions
or just focus on the club and striking. I think
a lot of players focus far too much on the
golf club and not enough on their big muscles. And

(01:05:06):
so if you think about the golf swing, your golf
swing is kind of divided into four parts. You've got
your lower body, which would be part one. That's kind
of everything below your waist. You've got your upper body
everything above your waist excluding your arms, so that's kind
of your stomach, your your chest, your head, your neck.
Then you've got what I call your triangle, which is
your left arm, your left hand, your right arm, your

(01:05:27):
right hand. When you set up, you kind of could
draw some lines across your arms would form a triangle.
That would be the third part of the golf swing.
And then the last part of the golf swing would
be the golf club. In my opinion and in my experience,
most golfers spend a lot of time focusing on and
using their hands and arms in the golf club, and

(01:05:47):
what's not moving and not moving as much as it
should be would be the upper body and the lower body,
which are more of your big muscles. So I think,
if I were to generalize, I see more players that
need more rotation in their lower body and their upper body.
So they need more upper body and lower body movement,
and they need less arms and hands and golf club movement.

(01:06:09):
Because when players hit bad shots, because the big muscles,
the chest and the lower body isn't moving, the hands
and the arm and the golf club have to work
a lot. In an ideal world, the upper body and
the lower body would be working way more through impact
than the arms, hands, and golf club. So I'm a
big believer that most golfers could benefit from more rotation

(01:06:31):
of their upper body and their lower body through impact
and a little bit less manipulation of their hands and
arms and the golf club. Um biggest adjustment week to week,
long game or short game. That's that's a really interesting question. Listen.
I think you know when when we're out here on tour,

(01:06:52):
I mean years and years ago, Sean Folly had the
best Um, in my opinion, told me the best description
of what the or is the tour is for what
we do on out of here on the PGA Tour,
it's triage, right, We're not doing it. We don't have
time to do open heart surgery. We don't have a
lot of time to do something, so we're really trying
to just incrementally make gains. Sometimes you can do that

(01:07:16):
in the long game. Sometimes you can do that in
the short games. Sometimes, UM, you know, big changes can
be made in the short game. You can tell somebody, listen,
the ball positions too far back, move the golf ball
a little bit more forward, um. Around the greens. I
think you can make really big changes like that, UM.
Specifically out of the bunker. I think a lot of
times bunker shots players get the ball too far back

(01:07:39):
in the stance too much shaffleen club digs, and it's
hard to get the golf ball to flight the way
you wanted to. And if I'm honest, I think a
lot of times, you know, full swing wise, it can
be the same ball position, alignment, posture, grip um. When
those things get off for really really good players, then

(01:08:01):
they can struggle they can start to hit the golf
ball all over the place. So on tour, we're not
making a ton of major, major adjustments. What we're doing
is we're trying to find, um, a little small things
that can affect the bigger picture. Um And listen, you
know it's Major Championship week, It's Tuesday of the p

(01:08:25):
G A. We're not really going to be able to
do too much between now and when the players tee
it up on Thursday. I'd love to tell you that
as an instructor, I can pull a rabbit out of
a hat and I'm a magician. Um, I'm not. And
in the next twenty four hours before Major Championship starts,
what the player has is kind of what the player has.

(01:08:47):
And so you're going to try and look at what
a player is doing going into a Wednesday of a
practice round, because the last thing you want to do
is be trying to make wholesale, big giant changes, um
that the day before Major Championship starts. So sometimes just
a slight alteration in the ball position, the grip, stance, posture, life,
the stuff that isn't sexy, the stuff that isn't really

(01:09:10):
really fancy and isn't cool to talk about. UM. Sometimes
that can really, really, really um make a big difference. Um.
Do you think a good instructor needs to be a
good golfer. Um. I'm a little biased on that because, UM,
I'm not the greatest golfer in the world. UM. I

(01:09:32):
think to be a good instructor, you need to have
great communication skills. You need to have a huge wealth
of knowledge. You need to try and leave as an instructor,
kind of leave your ego at the door. You need
to be a you need to listen more than you speak.
And UM, I'll be honest with you. In the course

(01:09:52):
of my career, I know a lot of really really good,
good good golfers that aren't really good at teaching golf,
that aren't really good at being a coach and an instructor.
There are two really really different things. So does it
help Yeah. Absolutely. If you've played on the PGA Tour,
if you've played in high level competitions, it can help you.
It can help you say to your students, listen, I

(01:10:14):
know what you're feeling, I know what you're doing. But UM,
I don't think it's a prerequisite. And UM I know,
I mean I know a lot of really good players
that aren't necessarily they don't make the best instructors, UM,
but it can help for sure. I wish I was
a better player, UM. I wish, UM. I wish my

(01:10:35):
dad would give me more lessons when I was growing up.
I would have been cool. UM. Can you bring one
of your juniors on the pod. That's something that UM
I'm thinking about doing. I'm thinking about bringing UM one
of the junior golfers I teach, you know, probably somebody
that's probably playing high school golf. I think that would
be really really cool to get kind of just a
complete junior um idea of kind of what's going on

(01:11:00):
in the golf swing, what's going on in their head,
what's going on when they play tournaments. I think that's
something that UM, I'm definitely going to try and do,
So thank you for that question. Really excited this week, UM,
second major of the year and it is going to
be a fun one. Southern Hills is a really really
good golf course. Of course with Claude Harmon comes to

(01:11:23):
you every Wednesday. We will see you next week.

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