Shane Lowry: I still have hundreds to go through but the message from Jack was class

I wish I could just slow it all down and soak it up more

The last few days have been a bit crazy and it will be like that for the next little while. I’m still trying to take it all in and I wish I could just slow it all down and soak it up more. But, when all the dust settles in a week or two I feel like I can just go back to doing what I normally do.

People keep asking about how many majors I could go on to win but you just don’t know. The one thing that I’ve realised over the last couple of days is just looking at the people who haven’t won one. You look at the people who have won a major and you look at the names on that trophy but then you look at the great golfers that haven’t won and then it hits you as in ‘oh my god I have actually won one’.

Shane-Lowry-kissing-trophy

My agent Conor, showed me a picture after I won the Irish Open ten years ago and I was asked how many majors I’d have by the time I was 40 and I said ‘there’s one thing for certain, I’m going to have one anyway’, so I’m happy with this now.

I’ve won a big tournament now and if I can’t gain confidence from this, then what can I gain it from?

People will look at me now and know that if my name’s on the leaderboard I can get the job done. I went out there on Saturday and shot one of the best rounds of my life under the most pressure I’ve ever felt in my life and it can’t but give me confidence. Bo said to me going down the 18th ‘look at those last four tee shots you’re after hitting under the most pressure of your life. You’ve hit four great tee shots’, so I’ll always have that to go back to when I need that assurance in myself and my ability.

Nicklaus Class

I haven’t been on my phone much at all since Sunday. I’ve hundreds of messages there that I still haven’t even read yet. I’ve managed to reply to the people I’m close to but haven’t had a chance to go through them all. There’s been a lot of messages from sportspeople. Jack Nicklaus’ message on Saturday night was class. I read that and saw he was wishing me luck. I’m a member of his golf club in Florida and I see him there all the time so he’d always ask me how I’m playing and what tournament is up next.

Ryder Cup & Olympics

The Ryder Cup means a lot to me. I just want to play in it and I’ll focus a lot on it over the next 12 months, planning my schedule accordingly. I had a good chance of making the team a few years ago and I didn’t and I was very envious of the guys who did. I just want to experience it. I’m ambitious and I don’t want to miss out on it. If I do play in it with Paddy (Harrington) as captain, that would be great.

The way my game is at the moment, I drive the ball alright, I chip quite well and if I can hole a few putts I can be dangerous so I wouldn’t be scared of playing anyone in it. I’m up there now, I’m leading the race to Dubai, doing well in the Fedex Cup and I don’t have to worry about the world rankings so it’s going in the right direction for me at the moment.

The Olympics coming up too would be incredible. I obviously missed the last one and got a bit of stick for that but I had my reasons for it. This has put me a long way to being on the team in Japan. We’ll be going over this time next year for the opening ceremony and just to be around all that will be really cool. Hopefully, I can go there and maybe bring a medal home.

I’m just trying to enjoy this moment as best I can. They don’t come along too often.

Shane is 100/1 to win next year’s USPGA Championship