“The two best players in the world are European” - Shane Lowry lauds Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy while opening up on Ryder Cup
According to Shane Lowry, "two of the best players" in the world currently hail from Europe. He emphasized the significance of Team Europe providing adequate support to Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm at this year’s Ryder Cup taking place at Rome's Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.
The Irishman will be in Abu Dhabi for the inaugural Hero Cup, which is the preparation event for the main event, the Ryder Cup, in September. Shane Lowry's focus will be on qualifying for his second Ryder Cup after 2021. In his last appearance, he could only earn one point from the three matches he played in. Team Europe faced a heavy defeat of 19-9, their worst since 1967. That's why no one is taking the Hero Cup lightly.
Before the start of the Hero Cup, Shane Lowry praised Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy and also talked about emerging talent vying for a spot in team Europe.
“Obviously, I want to be a part of Luke’s [Donald] team in Rome, and I feel like if this gives me any little bit of an edge in Rome, if I’m there, I need to be playing here,” Lowry explained. “The two best players in the world are European players at the minute, I feel, with Jon and Rory. It’s up to us, the rest of the lads, to get our game to a level where we are good enough to win the Ryder Cup at the end of the year.”
Interestingly, Rahm and McIlroy aren’t playing in either of the teams at Abu Dhabi Golf Club this week. However, both have done brilliantly in recent times. The Spaniard claimed his third victory in the last five starts at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Rory hasn't played this year, but he finished 2022 as the World No. 1. So unless any of them get injured, there's surity about them being in Team Europe in September.
The participation of the LIV Golf professionals in the Ryder Cup is still not certain given the case is still on the court. The US team has announced that the Saudi-backed players will be barred from their team. The Hero Cup has also followed the same stance with no LIV players featuring in Abu Dhabi.
Hero Cup Day 1 draw announced
The inaugural edition of the Hero Cup starts on Friday with Team Continental Europe facing Team Great Britain and Ireland. Both teams have 10 players, each with Tommy Fleetwood as the captain of GB&I and Francesco Molinari captaining the Continental Europe team.
Team Europe's Ryder Cup captain has selected all 20 players given the event will be the warm-up for the September event.
The first day will take place in the four-ball format. Here are the match-ups:
- Tommy Fleetwood & Shane Lowry [GB&I] vs. Thomas Pieters & Alex Noren [Europe]
- Tyrrell Hatton & Jordan Smith vs Thomas Detry & Antoine Rozner
- Callum Shinkwin & Matt Wallace vs Victor Perez & Guido Migliozzi
- Ewen Ferguson & Richard Mansell vs Francesco Molinari & Nicolai Hojgaard
- Seamus Power & Robert MacIntyre vs Sepp Straka & Adrian Meronk