LOWRY: I’LL PLAY IN A RESCHEDULED IRISH OPEN

OPEN champion Shane Lowry says the Irish Open is the only European Tour event that he would play in this year. Since the Covid-19 outbreak began, Lowry has been at home in Florida waiting for his chance to resume competitive action at the Charles Schwab Challenge on June 11. For now, the British Masters on July 30 is the next scheduled European Tour event, but Lowry says he only has eyes for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. Of course, whether the Irish Open will even happen is difficult to say, given the uncertainties that linger over sport at the moment. But if it does go ahead as planned at Mount Juliet, Lowry said he will be there. ‘The way it is, especially with the quarantine on both sides, I don’t think it’d be physically possible for me (to go back),’ Lowry told 2FM’s Game On last night. ‘The only tournament I would contemplate going back for was if there was an Irish Open put back on the schedule. I haven’t seen a schedule from the European Tour so I can’t really say but I’ll probably be mostly in America for the rest of the year. ‘Things are just going to be a bit different. I’m just going to go back to what I’ve done the last few years, and that’s kind of living day by day, week by week, and just try to perform the best I can every day.’ Lowry also said he will have a new bagman for a few weeks as regular caddy Brian ‘Bo’ Martin has other concerns at the moment. ‘Bo’s wife is having a baby in a few weeks so I’ve got a different caddie for the first few weeks and then Bo, I think he’s coming back in late July or August,’ he said. ‘He’s not been able to travel solely because his wife is having a baby, nothing to do with international travel. I’ve got Darren Reynolds, who’s another good Irishman.’