Shane Lowry reveals exactly what is needed 'to be all right' at The Open

“I'm feeling great the last two days, so that's not great,” he said, laughing, in his pre-event press conference on the County Antrim coast on Monday afternoon. “No, honestly, I've had a great week of practice. I just need to play s*** for the next couple of days, and I'll be all right!”

Unlike Rory McIlroy, his close friend, and lots of other big names, Lowry decided to skip last week’s Genesis Scottish Open in East Lothian, opting to play some courses on Irish soil instead in preparation for the season’s final major.

“In the last two weeks, I've played Portmarnock, The Island, Baltray, Waterville, Hogs Head and Adare Manor. So I've played some of the best courses we have in the country,” he reported.

“I've only played Scotland once in the last eight or ten years, and then I went to Hoylake and missed the cut. That didn't work out well. So I went and I parked myself down in Waterville last week.

“I played golf every day, played a lot of golf. The weather was almost too good, that was the issue. There wasn't enough wind. The sun was shining too much and it was too warm. But it's been an amazing couple of weeks.

“I haven't been home to Ireland since Christmas as well, so I've had a nice time being back home the last three weeks and feel a little bit rejuvenated and ready to go again. I've had a busy season, and it's about to be another kind of busy next three or four months, as well. I feel like I'm ready to go again.”

‘Great to be back’ for Lowry

Lowry stormed to a six-shot success in 2019, having taken the event by the scruff of the neck with a third-round 63 and never looking as though he would be caught thereafter.

“It's great to be back,” he said, smiling. “I was here last year for the first time, but I was here a couple weeks ago and all the grandstands were up and that's when everything really starts to flow back to you. It was pretty cool to kind of get that out of the way.

“Then I came up here yesterday, I played nine holes last night and nine this morning, and great memories. But obviously I know that's quite a while ago, and no matter what I done then, it doesn't give me any God-given right to do anything special this week. I just need to get my head down on Thursday morning and get after it and see what happens.”

Not far from the entrance to Royal Portrush, an enormous mural of Lowry holding the Claret Jug has been painted on the side of a house. “I'm happy I have to drive the other way. I don't have to drive past it every day,” he joked of that.

Meanwhile, local hero McIlroy is determined to embrace being the centre of attention this week after suffering the disappointment of a missed cut six years ago. “I think in 2019, I probably tried to isolate,” said the grand slam winner after playing his first practice round. “And I think it’s better for everyone if I embrace it. I think it’s better for me.

“To be here, to see a lot of familiar faces, every hole on the course has a different team of marshals from different golf clubs and just to see people that I’ve met throughout the years out there this morning was really nice.”