Shane Lowry: "I deserve place in the Ryder"

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Irishman Shane Lowry judged that he deserved his Ryder Cup wild card, despite criticism of the choice of Luke Donald and questions surrounding the Irishman's state of form.

Shane Lowry, statements

The defending champion of the BMW Championship which begins this Thursday at Wentworth had to answer a lot of questions around the invitation which granted him Luke Donald in the Ryder Cup.

Many voices were raised to denounce an injustice regarding the non-selection of Adrian Meronk, dismissed by the European captain. The wild cards issued to Nicolai Højgaard and especially to Shane Lowry, author of a very average season and quite far behind in both points classifications for direct qualifying, sparked controversy.

But the winner of The Open 2019 at Royal Portrush made his case. “I deserve my place in the Ryder Cup. First of all, I'm a very good player. Yes, my results have not been extraordinary this year, but I think that if we want to ask only who are the 12 best players in Europe, I am one of them.

» The Irishman also felt that his team spirit and his unwavering morale would be assets for Europe. “I won’t be afraid of anyone on the course. I will be good for the “rookies”. I think I will be good for the morale of the team and in our locker room.

You know, I will be passionate. I will show my emotions. I am going to have fun. I'll be good in Rome, you'll see. » The 32nd in the world reassured the “Europe team” a little with a 3rd place last week at the Irish Open, his first top 5 since the Honda Classic in February.

In 2007 he won the Irish Amateur Close. As an amateur he triumphed, in May 2009, at the Irish Open: it was an extraordinary result, given that only two amateurs had managed to obtain a European Tour title. He thus entered the world rankings at number 168.

The following week he turned pro, but the start wasn't easy, as he didn't make the cut in the first three tournaments. In November, however, he came third at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan and in January 2010 he reached fourth position at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, as well as the top 100 in the world ranking.

In July he participated in his first major, the Open Championship: during qualifying in Sunningdale he scored a score of 62, equaling Nick Faldo's record. At the Open he made the cut and finished 37th. His first professional victory came in 2012, when he beat Ross Fisher at the Portugal Masters.

In 2014 he earned a second place at the BMW PGA Championship and a ninth place at the Open Championship, while in 2015 he returned to success, beating Bubba Watson by two shots at the Bridgestone Invitational of the World Golf Championships. Since then he also began playing on the PGA Tour.