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Thu, 01 Jul, 2021 - 06:00

Simon Lewis

An Olympic medal to go with the Claret Jug would represent a healthy return for Shane Lowry’s efforts this month and the major winner spoke yesterday of how driven he is to achieve success in Tokyo.

Lowry, 34, will in two weeks have to return to the R&A the original Claret Jug he won in style at Royal Portrush in 2019 and which has been in his possession ever since due to the Covid pandemic and postponement of the 149th Open from last July at Royal St George’s to this. Yet an Olympic medal would be his to keep and would sit nicely atop the replica Claret Jug he is entitled to as a former Open champion.

“It would be nice to hang an Olympic gold medal on the Claret Jug,” Lowry said yesterday at Mount Juliet before describing the emotion of receiving his Team Ireland uniform last week after confirmation of the world rankings that meant he and Rory McIlroy will be Ireland’s male representatives at Kasumigaseki Golf Course from July 29.

“It did (strike a chord),” he said. “I’ve known for a while that I’m probably going to be on the team and going to Tokyo. The team was officially announced after the US Open and then you start getting text messages from people congratulating you.

“Got my gear during the week. Talking to some of the people from the Olympic Federation of Ireland and seeing how much it means to those people to be involved, I think it’s just pretty cool that I’m going.

“Not that I want to put too much pressure on myself but I’m not going to make up the numbers. I’m going to win a medal. I sat down last week and you talk about it with Neil (Manchip, his coach) and talk about it with my friends and stuff. We don’t actually come home with that many medals from Olympics as Irish athletes. So it just would be really cool to win a medal. It would amazing. It would be a huge achievement, huge achievement for me and my family to be involved in that.

For me growing up, I never thought I was going to be going to the Olympics, so it’s obviously new and it’s going to be pretty cool. Lowry said he had not spoken to 2016 medallists Justin Rose (gold), Henrik Stenson (silver) and Matt Kuchar (bronze) about what winning an OIympic medal meant to them but he could sense its importance.

“It obviously means a lot to them. You’ve just seen the way they have gone about it over the years, over the last few years. It’s a pretty cool thing, and I think as the years go on, look, golf, it is a big deal now. Like it is a big deal but I think it will actually become bigger and it will become quite a big part of golf, preparing for the Olympics.

“Yeah, I’d give anything… it would be unbelievable to go and come home with a medal. It would be a really cool achievement and something that I could tick off my list and be very proud of and happy with.”

As for that Claret Jug, Lowry has not yet been informed of the exact R&A protocol for its return at Royal St George’s in Kent two weeks from now.

“I have to be there Monday morning, so I’m sure that’s when I give it back. Yeah, I’m travelling over on Sunday and I’ll be there Monday morning at the golf course. That’s the plan as far as I know, anyway. I’ll do what I’m told and give it back, and I’ll try and have it as shiny as I can for them. I’m sure they will have to bring it off and shine it up themselves, so that’s when it’s going back.

“It’s in great shape,” he added.