Irish pair Lowry and Mcilroy hoping for Paris tonic
Golfer Shane Lowry believes winning Olympic gold will make up for missing out on a second Open title, as Ireland team-mate Rory Mcilroy targets his biggest win for a decade.
Lowry held a two-shot halfway lead at Royal Troon, where Mcilroy missed the cut, but struggled to a third round of 77 and eventually finished sixth, five shots behind Olympic
champion Xander Schauffele. “I felt I had a good chance to win The Open a couple of weeks ago and I was really disappointed to not give it a better go on Saturday and Sunday,” said Lowry, one of Ireland's flag bearers at the opening ceremony here in Paris.
“Straightaway after that I sort of felt like I have a chance to redeem myself here in a couple of weeks. I think if I was to win a gold medal and bring it back to Ireland, yeah, it would be pretty cool.”
Mcilroy's bid to win a fifth major title will stretch into another decade after he suffered his second worst Open performance at Troon, the 35-year-old carding rounds of 78 and 75 to finish 11 over par, five weeks after his heartbreaking loss in the US Open.
Asked what a gold medal would do for his year, Mcilroy said: “It's well documented that I haven't won one of the big four in ten years. It would probably be one of, if not the biggest [win] in my career for the last ten years.
“The last time you guys [the media] saw me, I didn't give a very good account of myself at Troon. I want to make sure I'm right where I need to be teeing off on Thursday.”
Mcilroy will play alongside Ryder Cup team-mate Ludvig Aberg of Sweden and American world No 1 Scottie Scheffler for the first two days, while Lowry has been drawn with Korea's Byeong Hun An and Canada's Nick Taylor.
France's Victor Perez has been given the honour of hitting the opening shot at 9am local time (8am BST).