Shane Lowry admits that he's searching for confidence going into the US Open after shooting the worst round of his professional career on Sunday, an 85 at the Memorial Tournament which he said almost reduced him to tears.
While he was never really in the running at Muirfield Village Golf Club, a third round of 68 had him moving in the right direction going into the final round at the Memorial and promised to help set him up well going into the US Open.
However, everything that could go wrong did go wrong on Sunday with eight bogeys and three double bogeys leaving the Offaly man struggling for answers ahead of the third major of the year.
Three days on from that disastrous round, Lowry is eager to put it behind him, but admits that is easier said than done.
"I'd be lying if I said I was full of confidence," he told reporters on course at Pinehurst No. 2, the venue for this year’s US Open.
"Anytime you shoot a score like that is not good for your mind or your game and, but it is what is. I've taken it on the chin and move on.
"I've been going well this year. Lot of good scores, lot of decent finishes. So it's a funny old game because even with all the good golf I played this year, the one thing you're coming in this week is all you're thinking about is one round of golf, and that was last Sunday.
"I tried over every one of those shots, and I tried my best to shoot the best score I could. Unfortunately, that was the best score I could shoot on Sunday and, that's golf.
"The one thing in this game does, is it brings you back down to earth with a bang, and that's what it did with me on Sunday. I had a tough day yesterday mentally and Sunday night was tough.
"I was almost reduced to tears. It was that type of that type of a day, but, you know, this game is a funny way of, like, paying you back at the times you're least expected. Yeah. Who knows what will happen this week?"
While Lowry is looking to bounce back from such a setback quickly he knows that it won’t be easy to do so, especially at Pinehurst where players are anticipating a very testing tournament set-up.
Only four players have finished under par across the three previous US Opens staged at Pinehurst and 15-time major winner Tiger Woods predicted a "war of attrition" could break out this week.
The greens in particular have been the focus for players, playing extremely fast and Lowry feels that's where the tournament will be decided.
"It's probably going to be won and lost around the greens, to be honest," he said.
"It's very difficult. It's very hard to hit greens, and then when you missed them, some of the spots you missed them in are very tricky.
"There's going to be a little bit of luck involved, a lot of 15-footers for par. So, yeah, it's going to be one of the tougher US Opens.
"There's a lot of negative talk going around between the players, and it's just going to be so hard. You just kind of try and stay in your own lane and, try to do your best and see where it leaves you.
"They're going to set it up the way they’re going to set it up, and someone's going to win the tournament. So you just have to go out and like I said, do your own thing and do as best you can.
"It's going to be incredibly difficult but we know that."
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