Shane Lowry gives fascinating insight on Ryder Cup abuse, pressure, and his bond with Rory McIlroy

Lowry began by recalling the biggest shot of his year. He described the pressure he felt as he helped secure the Ryder Cup for Europe.
“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.”

He then spoke about the difficult atmosphere in New York. The European team faced constant abuse from American fans.
“It was pretty bad,” Lowry said. “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.”

He explained that some comments were “not very nice.” He said both he and McIlroy used the hostility as motivation. Lowry added that Rory faced even more of it during the week.

Next, Lowry spoke about his close friendship with McIlroy.
“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.”

He said their bond pushes him to be better. He also said he feels lucky to call McIlroy a friend.

Lowry then talked about life outside golf.
“We’re normal people, I try and live a normal life as I can outside of the sport, and I think it shows.”

The interview ended with a fun putting challenge on set. When asked to choose between another Ryder Cup win or an Offaly All-Ireland, Lowry’s answer was clear.
“I’d give anything to see Offaly walk the steps of Croke Park again, yeah.”