Lowry facing Rasmus Hojgaard threat to automatic Ryder Cup place
Shane Lowry plays his shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. on Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Logan Whitton/USGA)
Shane Lowry will have a weather eye on this week’s Betfred British Masters as Rasmus Hojgaard bids to push him out of the automatic qualifiers for September’s Ryder Cup in New York.
Lowry required a wildcard from Pádraig Harrington in 2021 and also from Luke Donald two years ago, and with no Ryder Cup points available at this week’s Tour Championship, he’s in danger of requiring another pick this year.
The Offaly man has long been considered a certainty to tee it up at Bethpage Black, but with only six automatic qualifiers for Europe this year, he will need a pick if Hojgaard finishes in a two-way tie for 29th or better at the Belfry this week.
Donald is scheduled to announce his six wildcards on Monday, September 1, and while there is room for manoeuvre in terms of surprises, it does not appear that the side will be substantially different from the 12 that won in Rome two years ago.
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton have qualified automatically and should Rasmus Hojgaard make it this week, the six wildcards would likely go to Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jon Rahm.
That would leave the likes of Matt Wallace, Thomas Detry, Nicolai Hojgaard and the in-form Marco Penge and Harry Hall on the outside looking in.
The six automatic US qualifiers were confirmed on Sunday following Scottie Scheffler’s win in the BMW Championship in Maryland.
Scheffler qualified alongside US Open champion JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.
US captain Keegan Bradley will likely plump for Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin and Sam Burns.
But after slipping to 11th in the standings, it remains to be seen if Bradley picks himself after this week’s season-ending FedEx Cup finale at East Lake, where Maverick McNealy, Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young can also make claims for selection.
With the staggered start eliminated for the Tour Championship this year, anyone in the 30-man field at East Lake can win the FedEx Cup if they win the tournament.
Scheffler is the overwhelming favourite after winning the first two playoff events.
Scheffler recorded his fifth win of the 2025 season and his 18th career PGA TOUR victory on Sunday.
After winning seven times in 2024, he became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2006-07 to record five or more wins in back-to-back seasons.
Whatever happens at East Lake, Scheffler will be keen to make amends for a disappointing Ryder Cup in Rome when he leads the US team at Bethpage Black.
The Texan won just one of his four matches and famously shed tears after suffering a brutal 9 and 7 hammering — the biggest defeat in Ryder Cup history — alongside Brooks Koepka against Hovland and rookie Åberg in the Saturday foursomes.
Scheffler ended the week winless, claiming just two halved matches and two defeats from four.
There will be eight Europeans in action at East Lake, with BMW Championship runner-up MacIntyre joined by McIlroy, Lowry, Åberg, Fleetwood, Hall, Hovland and Rose.
McIlroy finished joint 12th at Caves Valley last week in his first start for three weeks but feels ready to make a bid for his fourth FedEx Cup win at East Lake.
“I was probably expecting too much to get in contention, but there were glimmers of really good stuff in there this week,” McIlroy said on Sunday.
“As I said, I felt like I found a bit of a groove over the last nine holes, so certainly something to build off going into the TOUR Championship next week.
“Yeah, it was a bit of a struggle this week. For the amount of big numbers and bad spots I put myself in, it ended up not being a bad finish, you know, in spite of that. Certainly some work to do before next Thursday.
“[The course] It’s obviously a little different than the three times I won there. Last year I felt like the golf course did play quite a bit differently, so a little bit of work on the course over the next few days and hopefully feel a little more comfortable with everything on Thursday afternoon.”
