Grazie Frankie — Lowry's Augusta place guaranteed after Molinari win
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry will gladly stand Francesco Molinari a mint julep at Augusta National after the Italian crushed Kevin Na 6&5 to ensure an outlandish triple whammy did not deny him his place in the Masters.
It was calculated that Lowry (48th in the world starting the week) needed at least one win in the WGC Dell Technologies ChampionshipAustin to remain in the world's top 50.
He got it with a 3&2 win over Andrew Putnam on the third day in Austin, finishing the week with 1.5 points from three and 3.3775 precious world ranking points having halved with reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed on day two.
But when the dust finally settled late on Friday night and the numbers had been crunched, it emerged that there was still a chance, albeit remote, that he could be bumped out of the top 50 by fractions.
It required three things to happen — Dane Lucas Bjerregaard to reach the quarter-finals and Kevin Na to finish third or better in Austin as well as a win for Sungae Im to win the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship
In other words, he was in a strong position until the Korean hit the front in the Dominican Republic and Na and Bjerregaard both won their groups in Texas.
When Bjerregaard beat Henrik Stenson on Saturday morning to reach the last eight and Na came back from two down after 11 holes to beat world No 2 Justin Rose 2 up to make the quarters, Lowry had every reason to get nervous.
Cue Molinari, who came to the rescue in the afternoon in impressive fashion
Europe's Ryder Cup hero in Paris made it 10 consecutive matchplay wins with a 6&5 win and Lowry is now guaranteed his place at the Masters and projected to finish 49th in the world with Justin Harding also Augusta-bound.
The South African is projected to finish 48th and only Sungjae Im, who trails 54-hole leader Graeme McDowell by strokes in the Dominican Republic can now join them in the top 50.
Lowry looked almost certain to make it to the Masters with ease when he won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January and then finished 12th in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic to remain 41st in the world.
“I don’t want to count my chickens, but I would have to say I’m looking good for Augusta," Lowry told reporters at Pebble Beach last month. "I would have to play pretty badly between now and the cut-off point not to be heading back to Augusta”
He went on to miss three of his next four cuts and but for that 1.5 point haul in Texas and Molinari’s brilliance, he might have faced an even more anxious 24 hours.
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