Shane Lowry could win the Tour Championship at East Lake this week and become the FedEx Cup champion and still drop out of the top-6 automatic qualifiers for the European Ryder Cup team next month.
Lowry occupies the sixth and final qualifying spot for Luke Donald’s side at Bethpage Black but he will have a keen eye on events at the Belfry particularly Rasmus Hojgaard who could leapfrog him at the British Masters.
Hojgaard can secure automatic qualification and a Ryder Cup debut if he finishes in a two-way tie for 29th or better this week on the DP World Tour.
Lowry cannot earn Ryder Cup points at the Tour Championship regardless of his performance, meaning he is likely to be relying on a wildcard pick ahead of his third Ryder Cup appearance.
The Offaly man was a wildcard selection for Pádraig Harrington’s Ryder Cup side in 2021 and needed Donald to repeat the feat for Rome two years ago. He was long considered a certainty for New York this year but could be sweating over another captain’s pick if Hojgaard can overtake him.
Donald is scheduled to announce his six wildcards on Monday, September 1, and it is widely expected that Lowry will be part of the half dozen with most of the victorious 2023 side tipped to be on the plane to the US.
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton have qualified automatically.
Lowry would likely earn a pick as would Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Åberg, and Viktor Hovland while Matt Fitzpatrick looks to have the edge on Nicolai Hojgaard, Harry Hall, Matt Wallace and Thomas Detry.
Team USA already know where they stand as world number one Scottie Scheffler qualified alongside US Open champion JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.
The big question looming over the Stars and Stripes is if captain Keegan Bradley picks himself for next month’s biennial contest and rewards himself with a first appearance since 2014.
Bradley was harshly left out by Zach Johnson two years ago but this season he has been in terrific form, winning the Travelers Championship and briefly reaching a career high 7th in the world.
But Bradley has slipped to 11th in the qualification rankings meaning he would need a strong finish at East Lake to justify a place ahead of Ben Grifin, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Maverick McNealy, Cameron Young and Chris Gotterup.
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