Shane Lowry is making the most of his Olympics experience, but he is determined to conclude it with the gold medal.
The 37-year-old, who will represent Ireland in the men’s tournament at Le Golf National, was one of three golfing flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony, but his attention has now turned to the opportunity to "redeem" himself on the course after a near-miss at The Open.
Lowry’s arrival in Paris came less than a week after he came close to replicating his 2019 Open win at Royal Troon. He topped the leaderboard after the second round, but his challenge faded over the weekend and he eventually settled for sixth.
However, he feels the chance to win gold at the Games is the ideal opportunity to put that behind him. He said: “Yeah, look, I felt I had a good chance to win The Open a couple weeks ago and I was really disappointed to not give it a better go on Saturday and Sunday.
“Straightaway after that, I sort of felt like I have a chance to redeem myself here in a couple of weeks. For me, look, if you look at the media and what it was like back home yesterday when Mona (McSharry) won that bronze medal, I think if I was to win a gold medal and bring it back to Ireland, yeah, it would be pretty cool.”
Lowry also reflected on his role as a flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony. “It was amazing. It was an amazing experience and something that I'll remember forever," he began. "Yeah, it was a big honor and when I got there and got to experience the whole thing, yeah, memories for a lifetime and just even being there and being around the other athletes, it was pretty cool.
“You know, to see the Olympics from there, it's something that when I was growing up, as a golfer, you didn't really think was going to be achievable. So yeah, it was an amazing experience.”
The athletes sailed down the River Seine as the world watched during the ceremony, and even poor weather couldn't dampen an experience of a lifetime for Lowry. He added: “Obviously the weather played a big part in the whole thing and we tried to stay a bit dry at the start of those but it was one of those, well, we're wet now, might as well enjoy it.
“As the boat ride went down the crowds got bigger and bigger and honestly was just soaking it all in, enjoying the atmosphere, and like trying to spot the Irish people in the crowd. There's a lot of Irish flags.
“Obviously when you get down past all the sites in Paris and then towards the Eiffel Tower, it's kind of a bit of a surreal experience.”
"I spent the whole day with Sarah Lavin [100m sprinter and fellow Irish flag bearer]. I got to know her pretty well that day and the story and what she's been through is nothing short of incredible.
"She gained a huge new fan that day and I hope to see her go on and do great things next week. Yeah, just see what people do and what other athletes go through is a pretty cool thing."
The men’s Olympics tournament runs from 1 to 4 August.
