Shane Lowry delivers brilliant interview before flying start at $20m Memorial

Great to see the former Open winner in such great form.

"I had to wear my pants today," explained Shane Lowry as he prepared for another tilt at The Memorial Tournament. "It's pretty warm, but it is okay." Lowry caught up with Michael Collins, with Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio, during the Wednesday Pro-Am and seemed to really enjoy the more laid-back line of questioning. It started with Lowry not bringing the right socks to wear with shorts, and went from there. There was milk-shake and weight-loss covered, along the way, as well as some golf. Asked 'how many milkshakes we doing this week?', Lowry quickly responded, "None!" before Collins praised him for his resolve, and for looking trimmer.

"I look at a milkshake, I put on five pounds," Lowry remarked. "I wouldn't call it skinnier," he added. "I'd call it less big!"

https://twitter.com/SiriusXMPGATOUR/status/1664040810269257728

Shane Lowry gets off to a flyer

Starting his first round on the 10th hole, Shane Lowry got off to an absolute heater. The Clara native birdied five of his first six holes to go into a tie for the early lead, on -5. He did bogey his seventh and ninth holes of the round to drop one back of the leaders but was well placed for a run at the $20m tournament [$3.6m goes to the winner]. Lowry has promised himself a milkshake from the Muirfield Village Golf Club course, which is renowned for its' tasty dessert offerings, and has his eyes on an Oero cookies and cream offering. It will taste all the sweeter if he gets his first win since last September's BMW PGA Championship, at Wentworth. Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, sat for a lengthy press conference on the Wednesday before the Memorial Tournament got underway. He offered his opinion that LIV Golf player Brooks Koepka deserved to make the US Ryder Cup team but held firm on his stance that none of the European-based LIV defectors should be involved in the bi-annual team event tournament. McIlroy was also asked about the PGA Tour rapidly increasing pay-cheques and winners' purses for its' designated events. Asked if such events ever brought in more money that the four majors, McIlroy said he knows where he would still love to be.

"It wouldn't stop me from playing a major, but at the same time the major championships basically rent the talent for a week from the PGA Tour and, you could argue, from LIV and wherever, DP World Tour and wherever else. So the major championships aren't going to be the product that they are without the top players in the world. "So would that mean that I would or anyone would go to the lengths of not playing a major championship to make a point? No. But that's just having a reasonable conversation with the governing bodies and the people that run those tournaments and try to come up with a solution."

Asked if he felt he had that work-life balance figured out yet, the Northern Irishman replied, "It's making sure that I spend enough time on my golf and on my career that I feel like I'm ready to play tournaments like this. "But then at the same time that I spend enough time with my wife and my daughter so they actually know who I am. (Laughing.) I'm not saying that I don't, but there's that balance of, you know, it's time management, it's just getting your priorities in order." Related articles:

• "No way, no way! Rory, did it go in?" - PGA Championship erupts after stunning hole-in-one
• Shane Lowry interrupts Kiwi journalist after himself and McIlroy asked about Ireland's chances at Rugby World Cup
• "You know, I may look back at that shot as being the turning point of the week" - Rory McIlroy
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