Shane Lowry will be looking for some redemption when he plays in the Ryder Cup in Rome later this month, after the Irishman – who failed to qualify for Europe’s team through the automatic qualifying process – was given a “wild card” pick by captain Luke Donald for the match against the United States on September 29th to October 1st.
Having made his debut in Whistling Straits in 2021 where the USA inflicted a heavy defeat on Europe, Lowry will be making his second appearance.
“The last one hurt a little bit and I am excited for a home Ryder Cup,” said Lowry, who got the news ahead of competing in this week’s Horizon Irish Open at The K Club.
Lowry was one of six captain’s picks, with Donald naming Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Justin Rose, Nicolai Hojgaard and Ludvig Adberg – winner of the Omega European Masters on Sunday – as his selections.
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Among those to miss out were Adrian Meronk, a winner of the Italian Open at Marco Simone earlier this season, and who narrowly missed out on the automatic qualifying, and Séamus Power, who slipped down the qualifying rankings during the summer months.
Lowry’s selection came as no surprise, with Donald referring to his ability to perform at the highest levels.
As Donald put it in making the announcement live on Sky Sports, “we know he is a big time player. He won an Open championship, WGCs, won at Wentworth, the list goes on, (won) the big occasions against the very best players. He turns up in those moments. There is nothing quite like a Ryder Cup, it’s one of the biggest moments. He is great in the team room as well.”
[ Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Sam Burns among USA’s six Ryder Cup wild cardsOpens in new window ]
Lowry talked of being “incredibly proud” and “grateful” to get a pick:
“We don’t get to do it too often, play team golf, and I feel like I grew up in a family of team sports and it is what I love.
“The experience I had at Whsitling Straits, even though we got beaten quite heavily, was incredible and something I will remember forever. I am very excited for a home Ryder Cup and looking to create more memories. A lot of my big goals this year were getting to Rome and trying to win that Ryder Cup back, everything over the next few weeks is going to be put into doing that and hopefully we can come out on top,” said Lowry.
The six wild card picks join the sextet of players – Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Robert MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick – who qualified automatically for the team.
