Shane Lowry isn’t ready to draw a line in the sand over whether members of the upstart LIV Golf circuit should be eligible to compete in the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup in Rome this fall.
“I can’t sit here and say whether I think they should or shouldn’t because the way it is now, I could be on the team with one or two of them or multiple of them in September,” said Lowry, a 35-year-old Irishman who stands in the top seven in Ryder Cup points to qualify for Team Europe.
“The way it is now, they’re eligible to make the team, and if they play well enough, they’ll make the team. So, it’s a very interesting time, obviously. I don’t know. I don’t know whether they should or they shouldn’t. That’s just kind of the way I am now.
“But even if I had an opinion, I can’t really say because if I’m a part of the team and then there’s bad blood there, it doesn’t bode well for the team. I’m all about Team Europe and the Ryder Cup, and I’ll do everything in my power to be a part of something that will be special in September.”
Last summer, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was stripped of his Ryder Cup captaincy of Team Europe over his decision to join the LIV circuit.
The event will be played Sept. 29-Oct. 1, and Lowry said his mission is to return the Ryder Cup to Team Europe, which was defeated by Team USA 19-9 at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2021.
“If we’re standing there with the Ryder Cup trophy on Sunday, I’ll be a happy, happy man.”
Lowry’s take on the matter was far different in September.
“With all due respect to a lot of those guys over at LIV, I think they know themselves and that’s why they went to LIV,” he said at the time. “Their Ryder Cup days are probably over.”
Lowry, the 2019 winner of the Open Championship, bounced back from a missed cut at the WM Phoenix Open to record a tie for 14th in The Genesis Invitational last Sunday.
–Field Level Media
