Shane Lowry spoke to Off the Ball about how he feels after winning The Open Championship at Portrush.

It still hasn’t quite sunk in for the Offaly man as he explained that the whole thing still seems a bit ‘mad’ to him.

While he seemed calm as he was closing in on his first major title, on the inside he was anything but - with the significance of the occasion crystal clear to him.

“My stomach was in knots all day. I couldn’t stop thinking about winning, holding the trophy, being on the 18th, losing.

“Everything goes through your head because you’ve so much time to think out there. But Bo [Brian Martin] did a great job of keeping me in the present and in a good frame of mind,” Lowry said.

Lowry credited his caddie ‘Bo’ Martin and coach Neil Manchip as crucial to his success as they kept him in the right frame of mind to clinch the Claret Jug.

“I suppose I was feeling particularly nervous about it last Wednesday. I was a little bit uptight about how the week was going to go.

“But look, Neil is obviously a huge influence on me and he has been over the years. He puts me in a great place and a great frame of mind when I get out to play my golf,” Lowry explained.

Tommy Fleetwood was Lowry’s main competitor on the final day and, while the margin of victory was comfortable at six shots, he admits that had the final day started badly for him it could have been a different story.

“That two minutes on the first green set the tone of the day. If Tommy [Fleetwood] holes and I miss it’s probably going to be a different day altogether. I’m just fortunate that he missed and I holed the putt,” Lowry said.

The two are on good terms with each other and while there wasn’t too much chatter between them on the course, Lowry would have been happy to see the Englishman win.

“You’re in the heat of the battle but I’d be very good friends with Tommy and his caddy. They’re two great lads. I get on very well with them. I said to them on Saturday evening in the locker room, you know let’s play tomorrow and give it a go and by the end of the day hopefully one of us wins it.”

Lowry’s homecoming in Clara, County Offaly is on today and promises to be some occasion, with up to 20,000 people rumoured to attend.

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