Lowry could face wildcard wait
Rasmus Højgaard is on course to claim Shane Lowry's automatic Ryder Cup spot and force the Offaly man to rely on a wildcard for the third match running.
There are no points at the Tour Championship in Atlanta as the European qualifying race ends after this week's Betfred British Masters at The Belfry.
But as Lowry battled a lukewarm putter and opened with a level par 70 at East Lake to trail early leader Collin Morikawa by six shots, Højgaard made the start he needed to overtake the Offaly man and claim the sixth and final automatic spot in the team that will bid to retain the Ryder Cup next month.
The Dane needs to finish in a two-way tie for 29th or better to secure his debut at Bethpage and a three-under 69 left him tied for 12th, just three strokes behind South Africa's Thomas Aiken, Austria's Matthias Schwab, China's Haotong Li and Germany's Marcel Siem.
"I feel like it's a solid round of golf, didn't cause myself too much trouble," said Højgaard, who has become accustomed to Ryder Cup questions.
"I get reminded of it every day at the moment. You can't just forget about it. I try to focus on what can I do to try and put myself in position to have a chance of winning this golf tournament, and that's taking it hole-by-hole and do my best.
"If it happens, it would be great, but I don't try and put too much energy into it."
While Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre and Tyrrell Hatton have qualified automatically, Højgaard has a chance to force Luke Donald to choose just six from a group comprising likely lads Lowry, Straka, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Jon Rahm and outsiders such as Matt Wallace (68), Marco Penge (71) and Aaron Rai, whose 73 left him joint 68th alongside Conor Purcell.
Fitzpatrick looks unlikely to miss out, and after a five-under 67 left him just a shot off the pace at The Belfry, he's made it clear he's keen to be at Bethpage.
"It means the world to be a part of it," Fitzpatrick said. "Outside of winning a Major, it is normally the first thing on a goal sheet at the start of a Ryder Cup year.
"We have got a great opportunity to do something we have not done in a while and obviously to be a part of that would be special."
As for Lowry, the Offaly man was one under after 13 holes in the FedEx Cup finale but three-putted the 14th and missed chances inside 15 feet on the next three greens en route to a 70 that left him nine behind leader Russell Henley in Atlanta.
