Offaly golfer discussed spectator abuse at the Ryder Cup and his close friendship with Rory McIlroy on Patrick Kielty’s chat show
After making a virtual appearance on the Late Late Toy Show last weekend, golfing star Shane Lowry delighted fans by joining Patrick Kielty in person on this week’s talk show.
The proud Offaly native discussed the Ryder Cup, Rory McIlroy, and even had the chance to meet young Declan, whom he had gifted an opportunity to join him at next year’s Irish Open during last week’s Toy Show.
Kielty didn’t hesitate to ask Lowry about his standout moment of the year when he clinched the Ryder Cup for Team Europe in September.
On the Late Late Show, he recalled: “I said to my caddy, ‘I have the opportunity to do something cool here, something special’, basically, ‘let’s go and do it’, thankfully I went up and hit a great shot in and managed to roll the putt in somehow.
“Honestly, it was the most pressure I have ever felt. I was trying to explain to somebody that was asking about it, it’s hard to explain,” reports the Irish Mirror.
He also shared details of Team Europe’s celebrations: “We had a good night that night. The bus journey back was probably the highlight of the whole thing, it took us about 40 minutes to get back to the hotel. If you can picture an U12 or U14 bus of Gaelic football young lads after winning a county final or something, that’s what it was like. It was the best weeks of our lives, those Ryder Cups.”
This year’s Ryder Cup sparked much discussion due to the abuse Team Europe received from American spectators in New York.
Lowry and Rory McIlroy endured plenty of hostile treatment throughout, with both displaying their annoyance at times.
“It was pretty bad,” Lowry revealed. “I think we were very ready for what was gonna happen, as ready as we could be, but until you’re in the situation, you don’t realise what it’s gonna be.
“Being out there, some of the stuff that was said was not very nice. I think Rory and I used it as fuel, and it motivated us to go ahead and win, I said after I don’t think it helped the Americans at all. I think it was actually harder for them in that environment than it was for us.
“We tried to use it to our advantage as much as we could, but it was quite difficult. I played the first two days with Rory, and on Sunday, I didn’t get as much abuse, but he had to deal with a lot of stuff over the course of the days.”
Discussing his bond with McIlroy, he continued: “We’ve become very close over the last number of years, our wives are really good friends, our kids are similar ages, they hang out together, we live very close to each other in Florida.
“We do hangout together, we play a lot of gold together, we sit around in the evenings, go to each other’s houses for barbeques, it’s a nice relationship to have, I count myself fortunate to be good friends with one of the greatest players that’s every played the game, and I get to watch him do his thing and I think really drives me on to be a better golfer.
“Every professional golfer or sportsperson, we just happen to be pretty good at what we do, but we’re just human beings at the end of the day,” Lowry commented on the pressure from Ryder Cup spectators.
“We’re normal people, I try and live a normal life as I can outside of the sport, and I think it shows.”
Lowry teamed up with Kielty, Declan and singer Tom Grennan, whose father hails from Offaly, for a round of putt potty as seen on the Toy Show. He showcased his superior skills by chipping the ball into the potty on his first attempt.
When posed with the question of whether he’d prefer another Ryder Cup victory or an All-Ireland football final win for Offaly, Lowry didn’t hesitate: “I’d give anything to see Offaly walk the steps of Croke Park again, yeah.”
