Shane Lowry admits he puts himself under immense pressure at his home event but the reigning Open Championship winner is hoping for another successful week as Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort hosts it maiden Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
Lowry was set for partisan crowds at the Mount Juliet Estate in County Kilkenny in May, with the World Number 30 playing in his first event on home soil since clinching the 148th Open Championship in July 2019 at Royal Portrush - a little over 30 miles away from this week's venue.
However, with the global health crisis, the original event was postponed in March and Lowry will now be greeted with relative silence in County Antrim with spectators prevented from attending.
Lowry refused to look at the negatives though, and admitted the lack of eager fans could actually aid him in his bid to secure another Irish Open crown to the one he won in 2009 as an amateur.
"I was extremely excited to go up to Mount Juliet this year to play it as The Open champion and I was selfishly looking forward to playing the Irish Open in front of my home fans as a Major Champion, but that obviously didn’t happen with everything that went down," Lowry said.
"We just had to wait and see, you don’t really make plans too far down the road with the way things are in the world at the moment, so when this venue and the date came up, I wanted to come and play because I feel like I owe it to the Irish Open, owe it to them and the Tour and just to support the event and to come here and give it my best shot to win it again.
"That's the reason I'm here this week, I don't think there will ever be a time when I won't play in the Irish Open and that's what I've shown this week and that's how I feel about the event.
"I don’t think it is possible for me to have more expectations than I always do at an Irish Open. If anything, having no crowds here, I will miss them, but it might help me a little bit because I probably try a little bit hard in front of the crowds at times and it does me in.
"I felt like the last couple of years at the Irish Open have probably been a little bit better than previous years, so no matter what week I go out to play, I do put a bit of pressure on myself and that is just the way I am.
"I just think it is trying to keep the pressure off me a little bit and to go out there and be myself, play golf and don’t get in my own way, and see where that leaves me at the end of the week.
"I've never been here before, I've been in the hotel for a couple of hours waiting on my test results and it's a pretty nice hotel so I'm expecting big things from the golf course too."
The five time European Tour winner finished in a tie for 43rd in last week's U.S. Open at Winged Foot, which he described as "probably the toughest golf course I've ever played".
He's here @ShaneLowryGolf 🏆#DDFIrishOpen pic.twitter.com/vIpoz9zJEx
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) September 23, 2020
But as he plays his first European Tour event on the continent since lockdown, Lowry is gutted that this week's event will not be its usual "mayhem" self as players continue to adapt to the new 'normal'.
"We have played a lot of tournaments without fans for the last while," Lowry added. "I think the big tournaments are strange, I just think they are weird. Playing the US Open and US PGA with no crowds, it's definitely affected some people.
"I think it probably affects the people the right way who have been in contention. I do think it plays a factor, it is what it is, it's normal life for us now. I'm learning to deal with it but obviously the week of the Irish Open will be a lot different than normal.
"A normal Irish Open is mayhem. It might make me perform better, it might help me play well but we will see.
"I think the bubble is fine. There are a lot of people that have lost their jobs and we are out here doing our jobs, we should be happy, we should feel fortunate that the European Tour and PGA Tour have done an excellent job in getting us back to play golf.
"I've not been in the European Tour bubble yet, this is my first day - I know we aren't allowed out, we aren't allowed to do anything but we are confined to the hotel but fortunately enough we have a nice hotel. It's not a bad place to be."
