Shane Lowry will hope the enjoyment he’s feeling off the course can translate to a good week on it when he tees up on Thursday at the Turkish Airlines Open.
The Open Champion returns to the Maxx Royal Montgomerie Course where Lowry’s lowest round is a 65 on the par-72 track.
Lowry is a combined -31 for the three events he has played at the Turkish layout and perhaps that’s an indication of just how much the Offaly man enjoyed the tournament experience as a whole in Turkey to date.
“I find that there are certain weeks that I just enjoy coming to play and this is one of them,” said Lowry.
“It’s just a great place to be this time of the year, weather is lovely, course is great, people are so nice and the service levels are excellent.”
“I have played well here in the past and I fancy myself to do well around here this week. I am not going to put pressure on myself to perform and just go out relaxed and comfortable and see what I can do.”
Regardless of how Lowry performs on the fairways this week, he’ll be comforted by plenty of smiling faces off it with his wife Wendy and daughter Iris joining him for a rare tournament trip on Tour in Antalya.
“Not every tour stop is right to bring the family to but Turkey is one of the weeks that I had planned on having Wendy and Iris down,” he revealed. “We will have three weeks together now from here to Dubai preparing for the DP World so it’s great to have them around.
“To be honest last week in China was the first week that I really struggled a bit being away and missed them more so than before. As Iris is getting older, it’s important for me to be around more so getting them out is great for me. My results even reflect that, I seem to do well when they are out so hopefully that continues this week.”
Lowry’s caddie Bo Martin also has his wife and young son (Bo Junior), who was born two weeks before their Royal Portrush win, out with him in an all-family affair in Turkey. Last week, Bo claimed the Caddie of the Year award in China and Lowry was happy to see his bagman honoured.
“It’s great, it’s good craic and not too serious but it’s a nice one for him to get as it’s voted for by everyone else out here (Players & Caddies),” Lowry said.
“I was giving Bo stick last week threatening to take his bib off him as he had ‘Caddie of the Year’ stamped across the front of it. He took a bit of slagging, but it was all good fun. We have had a great year together and its’ nice for him to get a little recognition like that too.”
Lowry will tee off in the final group on Thursday with the Race to Dubai leader Bernd Wiesberger and double defending champion Justin Rose at 9am Irish time.
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