“I only found out about that Monday,” admitted Shane Lowry about a Ryder Cup rules change that may leave him needing a captain’s pick from Luke Donald.
In the past, a solid outing in the PGA’s Tour Championship would see a raft of points go towards the European player rankings for the Ryder Cup. For 2025, six players will automatically qualify for Team Europe, leaving Donald with six captain’s picks.
Lowry is currently sixth in the European rankings, with Sepp Straka seventh. Both men are competing in the Tour Championship, in Atlanta, this week but no points from that event are being counted towards the Ryder Cup automatic qualifier list. That has left the door open for Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard, who is competing in the British Masters, at Wentworth.
Hojgaard needs only to finish in the top 29 of the DP World Tour event to leapfrog Lowry and Straka in the strandings. The Dane is in a tie for eighth place, after two rounds, and lies four shots back from Germany’s Marcel Siem, the tournament leader.
“I thought I was guaranteed getting points this week,” Lowry admitted to reporters after his second round of 63 put him within touching distance of the Tour Championship lead, after two rounds. “I thought I was going to be pretty much guaranteed on the team.
I was somewhat disappointed to hear that. But the rules were made at the start for qualifying, and that was it. I think I finished four points behind Tyrrell, which is pretty much a shot, which would have been nice.
But obviously I don’t know what Rasmus is going to do this weekend, but it looks like he’s probably going to pass me up and I’m going to need a pick next week, so hopefully I get a nice phone call off Luke.”
During a press appearance that was very much centred on the Ryder Cup – and not the tournament he is currently trying to win – Lowry had to deal with a curious question about the bi-annual slugest between Europe and the United States. His response, though, was perfect.
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Shane Lowry, right, and Team Europe teammate Rory McIlroy, celebrate after the final day of the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)
Shane Lowry shuts down odd Ryder Cup question
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After an excellent second round of 63, which included a 95-foot birdie putt, Shane Lowry spoke with golf reporters in tlanta for seven minutes and answered 15 questions. Nine of them were about next month’s Ryder Cup.
The Clara native has played in two Ryder Cups, with his first being a resounding loss at Whistling Straits, in 2021, that was played in front of a predominantly American crowd, with Europeans unable to travel over to the USA due to Covid restrictions.
During that event, Lowry took umbrage at the fact his wife was subjected to “dog’s abuse” from a small section of the crowd. Next month’s event is tking place at Bethpage and some American fans will not be holding back from sharing choice opinions with European players.
“When you’re prepared for something it’s a lot easier to deal with,” said Lowry. “I think we’ll be prepared for it. So when you’re prepared for what we’re going to get, when you’re prepared for the worst, I think you’d be able to deal with anything, whereas if you’re at a regular event and someone heckles you, it kind of come out of nowhere and that kind of is a little bit whatever.
Asked what would be the worst, Lowry replied, “If it gets personal towards your family, that’s the only thing, your wife or whoever that’s there. I think that’s the only thing that could really hurt you. Nothing towards me will hurt me. I’ve heard it all.”
In recent weeks, in PGA Tour events, the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Bob MacIntyre – who responded with some shushing gestures to the crowd – have all copped flak from sections of American golf supporters. As the Q&A was wrapping, Lowry was asked the following, curious question by an American reporter:
REPORTER: This will be your first Ryder Cup on away soil with people who actually like you. They’ll probably have, I’ve got to guess, 20,000 people, European fans coming over…
SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, and I’m not on the team yet, so let’s not talk about it too much!
If Lowry does miss out on that automatic qualifying spot, he should be confident of a captain’s pick, as should Straka, Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland. After that, it gets interesting (Matt Fitzpatrick is currently 12th while Jon Rahm is 23rd).
You can watch the full press Q&A with Shane Lowry, below, with that Ryder Cup ‘actually like you’ question coming up at the very end.
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