Shane Lowry sets sights on Olympic gold as Open champion get’s hero’s welcome in hometown Clara
SHANE LOWRY wants to add Olympic gold to his Open success after proving at Royal Portrush that he has “the balls” to win big.
He looks certain to join Rory McIlroy on the plane to Japan next summer and admits he’d relish the chance to lead the Irish team out at the Opening Ceremony in Tokyo after being heavily criticised for pulling out of the 2016 Game citing fears over the Zika virus.
Now that he has his hands on the silver Claret Jug, he’d love nothing better than to win Ireland’s first gold medal in golf and even follow in the footsteps of boxers Katie Taylor and Paddy Barnes as the flag bearer.
Lowry, who is 10th in the Olympic Ranking, said: “It will be incredible, won’t it?”
“I missed the last one. I got a lot of stick for that. I had my own reasons. But this has gone a long way to putting me on the ‘plane for Japan.”
Asked if he would like to carry the Irish tricolour into the stadium, if asked, he said: ”Absolutely!
“I’m very excited to be going. We’ll be going over the week after the Open next year for the opening ceremony so to be around all that will be pretty cool.
“Wins are hard to go by but hopefully I can got there and bring a medal home.”
For now he’s happy with the Claret Jug after a win he described as “surreal”.
Lowry, 32, was lauded by thousands of fans at a homecoming parade in Clara, County Offaly, on Tuesday evening.
Wins are hard to go by but hopefully I can got there and bring a medal home
Shane Lowry
Speaking at the event, he added: “I can't stop looking at my name on it.
“I said to Bo, walking down 18 on Sunday, ‘I can’t believe this happening to me, I just cannot believe it’.
“I’m standing there and I’m trying to take the whole thing in and I just can’t. I don’t have enough time to take it all in.
“You’d love to be able to stand there forever. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.”
Making Padraig Harrington’s Ryder Cup team for Whistling Straits is the big goal now and he admits the bigger the event, the more he enjoys it.
“I had a good chance to make the team a few years ago and I didn’t and I was very jealous, envious of the guys playing, and I just want to experience it, “ he said.
“I’m ambitious and I don’t want to miss out on it, I want to see what it’s like and obviously next year, to play with Paddy as captain would be great as well.”
Believing he’d be a tough opponent for anyone, he said: “The way my game is, I drive the ball alright and I chip quite well and if I hole a few putts I can be dangerous, any given week.”
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After proving he had guts to win major, he knows he will be feared and respected from now on.
“You always have doubts about if you’re good enough to get the job done, or if you put yourself in the position, do you have the balls,” he said.
“Literally, that’s what it is, do you have the balls to go out there and do it because that’s what it takes.”