Shane Lowry reckons Rory McIlroy's Masters victory will take the heat off himself when they arrive in Portrush for The Open. Both men sat down in the Pete Dye Room at TPC Louisiana to discuss their defence of the Zurich Classic and, during the interview, were asked about their goals for the rest of 2025. Lowry jumped in. "I think Rory's goals are...who cares anymore?" he asked, tongue in cheek. "I care," came the response from his team-mate this week, as the duo look to add another Tour victory to their CVs - Lowry's first since their success in New Orleans 12 months ago, McIlroy's fourth of an already history-making season. "He can take it easy for a while," suggested Lowry. "But no, going back to Portrush is going to be incredible. Rory going back as the Masters champion now is going to take a little bit of heat off me again, so I'm pretty happy with that. It's going to be a great tournament. "I saw something yesterday where 278,000 people are going to attend The Open this year at Portrush. I think a million people applied for tickets. It's going to be an incredible event, and I'm just going to be happy to be a part of it." Well, not exactly. The Clara man will want to be in the mix again. He was there on Masters Sunday but his challenge melted away on the back nine as McIlroy took centre stage, successfully grappling with his demons before donning the green jacket. "Honestly it was the weirdest day ever for me because obviously I'm going out there, and I get off to a decent start, birdie the second to get to 6-under, and I'm sort of thinking, 'Masters Sunday'...I'm watching Justin Rose do what he did, he's the group in front of me. "So yeah, very strange day, and then I just had a bad day. Then you get to watch one of your really close friends do what he does. "But I was out of it for a long time and I was watching the leaderboard going around, then come in, and I have to deal with my own disappointments first. "I actually went to the locker room for 15 minutes just to gather my own thoughts, watched a bit of the golf, watched what he was doing out there. Then after that, look, I'm just happy for him. I know what he's been through, certainly in the last 10 years since the Grand Slam was on. "The pressure that's been put on him by...not so much by himself, but by everyone outside, has been pretty tough and he's had to deal with a lot of disappointment, so it was pretty cool to see him do that. "I think what everyone saw on the 18th green that day was just pure relief. I was very happy for him. You're out there trying to win the Masters yourself, but then when one of your close friends does it, you have no choice but to be happy for him because it is a great occasion. "I think it's a great occasion for golf, for everybody in golf. At the end of the day, it's history. Sixth person ever to do the Grand Slam is no joke. It's something that - obviously Jordan (Spieth) has a chance to do it in a couple of weeks. But will it ever be done again? Who knows. It's a pretty tough thing to do, and Rory has found that out over the last 15 years. Yeah, I was just happy for him." As for this week, Lowry would love to repeat the thrilling success the two friends enjoyed 12 months ago. "We flew together last year here, and we said we're here to pick up 400 FedEx Cup points each, and that's why we're here this week," he said. "But we are here to have a good time, as well. I'm not saying a good time like we're going to be down on Bourbon Street every night, but we're here to enjoy it." Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox