Shane Lowry admitted that he’d had an anxious wait in the days and weeks prior to him receiving the news that he would, in fact, be part of Luke Donald’s 12-man panel to take on the United States at New York’s Bethpage in three-weeks’ time.
“He’s kept me in the loop a little bit because I was obviously in the team and out of the team and in the team,” he said when asked when he knew for sure that he could pack his bags for the Ryder Cup. “Yeah, I only fully knew last week on Sunday. It was like an anxious kind of few weeks for me.
I” felt like I didn’t have a great playoffs. I played better as the time went on. I felt like I played really, really good at the TOUR Championship, which I thought really helped me, but I also knew what I could add to the team.
“So I was semi-confident about getting the pick, but to actually receive the call and know fully — you can’t expect anything in this game. I was obviously unfortunate enough to miss out by as small a margin as I did over the course of a whole season or even more than that. It just goes to show you no matter what you’re doing throughout the year, whether you’re 50th or 40th on a Sunday, when you go out and play in the tournament and you don’t even want to be there, every shot counts.
“Obviously I’m very happy. Looking forward to it. It’s going to be a really tough task for us, but I feel like we are ready for that.”
With the Irish Open starting tomorrow – a tournament Lowry famously won as an amateur back in 2009 in Baltray – and the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth – another event where he’s hoisted the trophy having finished runner-up previously – the following week, all before the season’s showpiece on September 26th, it’s a busy period. But that’s exactly how Lowry wants it.
“Obviously exciting few weeks ahead, starting with this week,” he said. “I think, as a golfer, as an Irish golfer, as a European golfer, I think, if I can’t get myself motivated and ready and up for what’s to come over the next month, starting with Thursday here, I should pack it in.”
Despite the heavy schedule and cross-Atlantic travel that looms before him over the next few weeks, he disagrees that it’s a negative for the Europeans.
“I think it works well for us Europeans,” he argued. “I think, because we get to come to the environment that we’re essentially playing for. I feel like, when you go play the Ryder Cup, you’re playing for much more than just the 12 lads there or the caddies or the people that are there, I feel like you’re playing for the Tour. You’re playing for a lot of other people on the outside.
“So I feel like to put ourselves in that environment over the next two weeks, it kind of shows what it would mean to everyone. You’re getting well wishes off everybody. It’s not even just the Europeans on Tour, it’s the other guys, the Kiwis or the South Africans. I think everyone has a want for the European Ryder Cup team to win this Ryder Cup.”
After Wentworth, the European team will make a scouting trip to Bethpage, and it’s a venue that Lowry has fond memories of having secured a T8 finish at the 2019 PGA Championship there.
“I’m very excited for Bethpage,” he added. “I played really well the last few rounds there the last time, but I think it’s going to be a different golf course for the Ryder Cup. It’s probably not going to be playing as physical. It will just be interesting to see.
“That’s what the practice trip is going to be great for the team to see how they set up the golf course. It will be good for us to play it twice that week.”
Before signing off, Lowry couldn’t resist taking a jab at close friend Rory McIlroy when he was asked his thoughts on McIlroy’s foray into acting in Happy Gilmore 2.
“My daughter watched that the other day and said Rory’s such a bad actor,” he laughed.
Lowry will play alongside Brooks Koepka and France’s Martin Couvra in the opening two rounds at The K Club, taking to the 10th tee at 07:40 am on Thursday, and starting on the first at 12:50 on Friday.
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