Cloning himself or missing the cut - they are only two ways that Shane Lowry can be there for his beloved Offaly's minor All-Ireland final clash with Tipperary on Sunday.
The first option is out of the question and, for the Clara man, the second is too, even if he now is a major backer of GAA in his county.
All going well, he'll go with the alternative and, at the end of the day, there could be double celebrations back in Tullamore.
READ MORE: Shane Lowry admits he slept through Padraig Harrington's dramatic US Senior Open finale
Friends and family will keep him up to date from the other side of the ropes at Mount Juliet with what is happening not far down the road at Nowlan Park.
"I hope I'm not in Nowlan Park anyway," he smiled. "Yeah, we're only 20 minutes away.
"I doubt I'll be able to make it but hopefully they can do the business.
"I will keep in touch with it, depending on how I'm going. We'll see.
"Hopefully I'll have other things on my mind and we'll hopefully all be going back to Tullamore on Sunday evening to celebrate.
"Look, obviously I'd love myself to do well this week. I'd love myself to be the Irishman to do well.
"Obviously Seamus (Power) or Padraig (Harrington), or even anybody Irish, if we were all up there on Sunday afternoon and one of us won it - it would be great for the tournament and it'd be great for golf if that was the case.
"Look, I've been knocking on the door this year, and I feel like it's not far away. If it's not this week, I do hope it's at St Andrews."
Famously, Lowry won the Irish Open in his final act as an amateur in 2009, beating Robert Rock in a play-off on a life-changing rainy day.
Now 35, he returned home last week ranked 24th in the world - eight places off his best-ever position - and as the tournament favourite at the county Kilkenny venue on the back of the most consistent six months of his career.
"Yeah, well, off the back of a missed cut," he pointed out, referring to the disappointment of just missing out on the weekend in the US Open.
"But other than that, it's been good. It's been a nice stretch for me, and I feel confident, I feel good about my game."
So he's happy to be the centre of attention at Mount Juliet, even if that brings more distraction than usual.
"Especially this year, when things have been going well and I've been playing quite good, there's no point shying away," reasoned Lowry.
"I'm one of the highest ranked players in the field, one of the top Irish players, one of the players that people really want to do well.
"There's expectation there.
"Coming off the back of the ninth green, there were lots of kids there waiting for me - the last thing I'm going to do is walk past them just because I want to protect myself or play well.
"Obviously I want to play well when it comes to standing on the 10th tee to start the tournament. I'm going to be in game mode.
"All around that, I'm just going to be myself and be as good as I can with everyone and just give people what they want, because I think that's just nice.
"When I was a kid coming to The Irish Open, that's what I wanted.
So it's nice to be able to do that."
He recalls being at the 2002 WGC at the Thomastown venue.
"I wouldn't say I saw a shot, I stood at the back of the scorer's waiting for golf balls," he laughed. "That's my only memory.
"I'm staying here on site, my family are here. I'm going to be up and down and around for dinner and stuff and it's going to be nothing really different."
Harrington comes to Mount Juliet on the back of his US Senior Open victory last Sunday.
But his very good friend admits that he missed the dramatic finale as the Dubliner saw his six shot lead at the turn reduced to one in the end by Steve Stricker.
"I fell asleep," laughed Lowry. "When I woke up, Wendy said he won.
"I was like, 'oh, great,' and I thought he won easy. Then I checked his scorecard the following day, and I realised it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be.
"But, yeah, it was great. I was like, 'you're hardly coming out saying it was major number four now, are you, what's the story?'.
"No, it's great for him - and it's great for him to come back here the week after with us.
"And, yeah, I told him it was about time he did that out there.
"Does he think he can compete this week and does he think he can compete at St Andrews? Absolutely.
"I think that will just give him confidence."
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