Shane Lowry has set a target of succeeding Rory McIlroy as Masters champion with the hope of winning several more tournaments before his career comes to an end.
It was a momentous year for the Offaly man after sinking the winning putt for the European team in the Ryder Cup, something which he feels may be hard to top as his pinnacle in the sport, even up against his Open Championship success in Portrush.
Speaking to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1, he revealed his lapsed ambition to become the first Irish player to wear the green jacket following McIlroy's historic victory in 2025.
Lowry has changed that hope to becoming the player who meets McIlroy in Butler Cabin as the new champion.
He revealed: "I've always said to myself that I want to be the first Irishman to win the Masters.
"That was always my goal in my head. Obviously that can't be the case now.
"So I think the only thing that would be almost as good as that would be Rory slipping the green jacket on me. I've thought about that.
"So honestly, every day I go to work, every morning I wake up and I'm doing something for my golf, I'm thinking about that. That's the number one goal now for the next four months."
Lowry was in with a great chance of winning the tournament on the third day in 2025, before fading, and McIlroy went on to close it out.
Elongating his career has been a focus for Lowry in recent years, knowing that as his he approaches his 40s, time is running out to achieve more.
"The last couple of years I've definitely put a big emphasis on looking after myself better," he said.
"I'm trying to prolong my career as long as I can. I'm 39 next year so I'm not getting any younger and I'd love to have another good five or six years left in me.
"We’ll see what happens. I think I'm very driven. I work harder than I've ever done and I put more into it and I'm getting the rewards.
"Individually I'd love to win just a few more tournaments. I've won seven and I'd like to get the double figures anyway and as soon as I can.
"I know I'm not far away. I feel like the way the schedule's gone is like you're playing more tournaments against the top players in the world, which makes it hard to win.
"Rory won four times and Scottie (Scheffler) won six this year so that's 10 times.
"I'm playing the same 20 events as them so I've only got 10 more opportunities to win.
"It's very hard to win out on the PGA Tour but I just need to keep giving myself chances.
"I'm obviously very hopeful that I'll win again or win a few times again and it's always a big goal of mine going into the season.
"I'm an individual golfer and golf is all individual achievements and I didn't win this year.
"I gave myself a few chances to win at the start of the year and I played all my good golf in like the first four or five months of the year and kind of tapered off a little bit.
"But I then came back and played great at the Ryder Cup and managed to help Europe win the Ryder Cup."
Lowry started 2025 brilliantly, describing his performance early in the year as some of his best ever.
But it dipped and he required a captain's pick from Luke Donald to be selected for Bethpage, something which he paid back in spades.
Reflecting on 2025, he said the achievement of winning the team event in America defines his year.
"My ultimate goal this year was to win the Ryder Cup," said the Clara man.
"Obviously I want to win majors and I want to win big tournaments but when your ultimate goal is to do something and you do it you can't help but look back on the whole year with fondness.
"I played great at the Masters for three days, I played great in the signature events, I was playing great golf from January to May up until the PGA Championship.
"I was playing some of the best golf I've ever played in my career and then to go into Bethpage and do what I did I think, I might look back on 2025 and Bethpage has been like the pinnacle of my career.
"Obviously, Portrush is very high up there as well. I know that I have Adare Manor in two years, I'm very focused on making that and being a part of that.
"So there's thankfully still a lot more to achieve in the game and I'm still very kind of driven to do that."
Shane Lowry was speaking to Greg Allen in an interview for Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
