Incredible Irish Open sets up McIlroy and Lowry for "amazing" Ryder Cup opportunity

Rory McIlroy's mesmeric Amgen Irish Open win proved one thing when it comes to a championship that has bounced around the schedule like a rubber ball for the past 50 years.

A great finish makes all the difference, but it's stars that truly drive fan engagement, and having a wealth of Irish talent, headed by the career Grand Slam winner, trumps everything when it comes to dates on a calendar, for now at least.

"I always say it… the Amgen Irish Open is one of the best tournaments in the world," Shane Lowry posted on social media in the aftermath of McIlroy's win.

"The venue, the sponsor and the crowds put on an amazing show this week. And as for Rory…. Unreal stuff on 18 yesterday. The kids standing around that green will remember that roar for a long time. Exciting few weeks ahead for me now. Onwards and upwards."

Lowry heads to this week's BMW PGA looking for his first individual win since he won at Wentworth in 2022.

But when assessing the Irish Open's place in the grand scheme of things, he was at a loss to come up with a better place for it on the schedule.

"I don't know, because I don't know what the other options are," he said. "I think we have a decent field. Obviously, it could be better, but I always say, once the Irish golfers are here, it'll be good anyway.

"We're very lucky to have Rory. He's just won the Green Jacket, and he's here with it this week, but I don't know, to be honest.

"What other date do we go for? Do we go back to before the Scottish Open? Then you're going to get nobody other than the Irish players….

"I'm talking top 20 in the world, top 50 in the world, because they're not going to play three weeks leading into the Open. They're not not going to play the Scottish.

“The week after The Open, is that an option? I don't know. Honestly, I don't know.

"Personally, it suits me quite nicely this week. It's a nice run with this and Wentworth."

The event appears destined to take place at Donald Trump's Doonbeg in 2026, with talks at Wentworth this week expected to deliver some clarity in that regard.

As for the BMW PGA, 2014 winner McIlroy is keen to follow his Irish Open win with his second Wentworth success, while Lowry is eager to put the finishing touches to his competitive Ryder Cup preparations at a venue he loves.

"I just see the golf course really well and I like it around there," he said. "It's one of my favourite places in the world to be as well, it's just nice.

"The golf course does suit my game. You don't stand up and bomb it; you plot it around.  Your mid-iron play needs to be strong.

"But the area itself, I just love going to it.  Since the first day I went there, it's amazing, you drive into somewhere and you just feel like a nice feeling with the whole place."

At 158th in the Race to Dubai, Lowry needs a big week to have any chance of making the top 70 in the Race to Dubai, who will contest the first event of the DP World Tour Play-Offs in Abu Dhabi in November.

"This is my first event in Europe this year and it's funny, this has probably been my worst major season in the last while," he said. "It's amazing how many Race to Dubai points you miss out on when you don't have a couple of good majors.

"I normally throw at least a top 20 in or a top 10 and then all of a sudden you jump up the Race to Dubai.  When you don't do that, it's amazing how far down you are.

"I'm not going to go chasing it.  I don't have that in me.  I've got a few good weeks left in me this year and then it will be down tools for a while."

Despite his lacklustre week with the putter, Lowry tied for 15th  in Kildare and heads to London with confidence.

"I feel like I go to Wentworth next week now with a little bit of a spring in my step with how I'm driving the golf ball," he said after putting a new driver in the bag at The K Club.

"You need to drive it well around there and if I can continue that on, I'll do all right."

As for the Irish Open, he believes it's still special.

"I play plenty and no tournaments are like this," he said. "The crowds here are just incredible and the Irish people come out and support.

"I was talking to one Scottish golfer this morning and he was saying how amazing it is to see the support all the Irish players get this week. You know, even the younger lads."

He's already counting the days to the Ryder Cup as 11 of Luke Donald's12-man team gather at Wentworth this week before heading to Bethpage for two days.

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the clothes fitting," he joked. "The Loro Piana stuff is a bit tight. I might size up.

"Myself and Thomas (Detry) were actually talking walking around today and he was asking me about it and I was saying, 'I think we've got an amazing opportunity to do something great here'.

"And if we were to win the Ryder Cup, I think it would be one of the greatest wins of all time.

"So, I think that carrot dangling there for all of us is something that we'll wake up every morning for the next few weeks and put as much work as we can into achieving that goal."