Shane Lowry Reflects on The Open & New Champion Golfer Series

Starring 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry, a new instructional series Lessons with a Champion Golfer has premiered exclusively on GOLFPASS, comprising of 14 episodes hosted by leading golf instructor Martin Hall, providing an insight behind Shane's swing, drills and tips, covering each part of his game, including the mental side, all of which are focussed on Lowry’s unique perspective.

Shot at The Club at Ibis in West Palm Beach, Florida, the new season will take advantage of a Swing 360 camera, specialty graphics, Toptracer and Trackman stats. GOLFPASS can be accessed in the UK & Ireland by visiting GOLFPASS.co.uk.

Reflecting on his historic triumph at Royal Portrush 12 months ago, the Irishman has shared his memories of that unforgettable week and looks ahead to his new series in an interview conducted by Gary Williams of the GOLF Channel.

Commenting on the postponement of the 149th Championship and the fact that he won’t defend until 2021 at Royal St George’s, the 33-year-old said: “Yeah, it was strange. You know, selfishly speaking I was very disappointed because obviously I was looking forward to having all my firsts, I suppose, as the Open Champion, getting to go to Augusta and getting to go to the Irish Open as the Open Champion and then obviously getting to defend my title.”

However, that means another year with the Claret Jug in his possession, and the significance of having his name forever etched on that trophy is not lost on the man from Clara.

“The more you look at it, the more you actually realize how unbelievable it is. Obviously, like I go back and I look at Old Tom Morris's name on it and I look at Tiger Woods and all the greats like Tiger, Jack, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones. It's kind of the who's who of golf, and it's just amazing that I can say my name is on that trophy, as well, and I'll be forever grateful for that.

“I just couldn't believe it [Winning The Open] to be honest. It almost felt walking down 18 was like an out of body experience. It was one of those things that you have to pinch yourself, and the few mornings after waking up was incredible just to sit there and look at the Claret Jug.”

Asked to the key behind his success, Lowry said: “Just great golf. I think I putted great. I holed out very well. You know, and I just kind of let myself play. I think letting myself play was the big thing and just letting myself go out there and express myself on one of the best links golf courses in the world because we all know links golf can be a bit tricky, so you just kind of have to take the good bounces and the bad bounces as one and see where it leaves you at the end of week.

“I think the Saturday evening was very significant,” he added. “I birdied four of the last five to take a four shot lead. I played a lot of guys out of the tournament then. Like a lot of guys then didn't have a chance to win, which was huge. But obviously people will look back at the first hole on Sunday and saying it was critical because there was a chance of a three shot swing there. I personally will look back at the 10th hole on Sunday. Myself and Tommy had two four footers. I holed, he missed, and for me I felt like I had the tournament in my hands then and I could just kind of play my way in and try and not make too many big mistakes and win from there.”

Commenting on his new Lessons with a Champion Golfer series, Lowry said: “I think the viewer will get out how simple I try and make the game. You know, it is a very difficult game that we play, but I try and simplify it as much as I can and to just get my thoughts on everything, on my whole game and see the way I go about my business. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I really enjoyed filming it.

“I just enjoyed what Martin wanted to find out about my game. I was fortunate enough to have my coach was on-site at the time so we had a bit of a talk about it and the way we go about things. You know, just all of it in general is really interesting, especially my short game. I think people will be interested in to find out the way I go about my short game and how I practice and how I play and the different types of shots I can play.”

You can watch Shane’s Lessons with a Champion Golfer on GOLFPASS.