Lowry keeps his feet on the ground

High flyer Shane Lowry admits that his life has been “plane” crazy since his fairy tale win ten days ago.

But despite landing a 12 month deal with Irish Open sponsors 3, the modest Offaly man turned down the offer of a lift to the London Club in a private jet chartered by Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Shane Lowry has signed with 3 MobileThe jet-set can wait for the Clara man who is determined to soar up the leaderboard when he tees it up on his pro debut alongside Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley and England's Anthony Wall in this week’s European Open.

Before beginning his first professional practice round by blasting his opening tee shot straight down the middle, he confessed: “It has been mayhem with the media coverage and everything but it’s been great and I have really enjoyed it, and hopefully is there more to come.

“I am looking forward to getting back out on the golf course and playing because I really haven’t had the chance to practice or play over the last week-and-a-half.

“I want to go out and give it my best and if that is not good enough, then it’s not good enough. But I just want to go out and see what happens.

“I am not putting any pressure on myself.  There is no pressure on me at all. At the end of the day I just want to be out here playing good golf.”

Lowry’s manager Conor Ridge sent his new signing to The G Resort in Galway last weekend to recharge his batteries with his uncle and girlfriend Deirdre.

His status as Ireland's newest celebrity landed him an upgrade to a top suite but he also did well financially by landing a 12 month deal with to wear the logo of Irish Open backers 3 on his shirt collar.

Golf has been on the back burner since he outgunned Robert Rock in that heart-stopping three-hole play-off ten days ago and Lowry only managed to play 12 holes before yesterday's practice round.

Up at 6am, he met Peter Lawrie at Dublin airport and had breakfast with his fellow tour winner before taking the 10am flight to Gatwick.

And his manager revealed that taking a lift from McDowell and McIlroy was never an option for a man who wants to keep his feet on the ground.

Ridge said: “Shane said he would drive to the airport himself. Graeme rang last night and said he would pick up Shane in Dublin but there is no way this guy is arriving for his first pro event in a private jet.

“I don’t think Shane has ever been in a private jet.”

His arrival at The London Club left him little time to get to know the surroundings and after struggling to find the locker room, he put on his shoes, signed his autograph on two Co Louth scorecards, and then made the 255-yard carry over the cross bunkers at the 398-yard first hole as he teed off with Lawrie, Paul Waring and David Lynn.

Set to play in the Celtic Manor Wales Open next week followed by the British Open qualifier at Sunningdale, Lowry is likely to tee it up in the BWM International in Munich and the Barclays Scottish Open in the next few weeks.

With zero euro on the board, he will need to hit form quickly if he is to achieve his first major goal this season.

He said: “A really big goal would be to get into the top-60 on the money list and into the Dubai World Championship.

“But if that doesn’t happen I am just happy enough being out here and playing.  I have a two-and-a-half year exemption and I can play off that the next couple of years.

“In then end it wasn’t too difficult of a decision to turn pro because I couldn’t see myself playing amateur golf again after the scenes at Baltray.

“This is all I ever wanted to do and I’ve had the opportunity to do that and I’ve taken it.”

Lowry has spent the last two years travelling the world with the Irish amateur team and believes he has the game to play most courses.

Playing down the hype surrounding his debut, he said: “I played in everything as an amateur and I’ve been all around the world playing on all different courses so I don’t think there is one particular course that suits my game so I should be fine playing anywhere.

“I am just trying to treat it like another tournament. It is still just a golf course and I will still be trying to shoot a good score.”

He has had a warm welcome to the tour so far as well as dozens of messages of support.

He explained: “I got one from Brian Cowen and I got some nice messages from Gary Murphy, Padraig Harrington and I actually got a really nice letter yesterday in the post from Gary Wolstenholme.

“There have been loads of nice messages and I met Thomas Bjorn.  He shook my hand and said ‘well done’. I was just walking through the club house.  He seems a really nice guy.”