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Shane Lowry believes Europe have the best 12 players available as they bid to regain the Ryder Cup from the United States.<\/p>\n
Lowry received one of captain Luke Donald\u2019s six wild cards on Monday having finished 11th on the European points list and eighth on the world points list, with only the top three on each qualifying automatically.<\/p>\n
The former Open champion won the first qualifying event \u2013 and will defend his BMW PGA Championship title next week \u2013 but his sole top-10 finish in 2023 came in February\u2019s Honda Classic.<\/p>\n
That has led to criticism of Lowry\u2019s selection, with former British Masters winner Richard Bland among those believing that Adrian Meronk\u2019s consistent form \u2013 including May\u2019s Italian Open victory at the Ryder Cup venue \u2013 meant the Pole \u201cdeserves a pick over an out-of-form Lowry.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cWell, people have their opinion,\u201d Lowry said ahead of the Horizon Irish Open at The K Club.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdrian has had a great year and obviously he\u2019s unfortunate to miss out, but somebody has to miss out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to sit here and disagree with Luke Donald. It was his decision at the end of the day, if he thinks that somebody else is better for this team than he (Meronk) was.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the way the team was picked, there\u2019s not many players playing that weren\u2019t in the top 12, myself included. And that\u2019s why you have six picks, so you have the chance to pick the 12 best players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally think that\u2019s the right way to go about it and I think we have the best 12 players from Europe coming to play this Ryder Cup, and I think we\u2019re in form.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of players are in very good form, as you\u2019ve seen over the last few weeks, and I think we\u2019re going to give it a great go this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very confident in my own ability, and I know what I can bring. My form probably has not been the greatest, but in some of the bigger events I\u2019ve played some of my best golf and there\u2019s nothing bigger than the Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully I can go to Rome and show people what I\u2019m made of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowry also needed a wild card to make his Ryder Cup debut at Whistling Straits two years ago and has unsurprisingly received the backing of the man who picked him then, three-time major winner Padraig Harrington.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about Shane, he\u2019s a big-time player,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe likes the big occasions, the majors, and at the Ryder Cup he loved it. He was very comfortable, wasn\u2019t like a rookie at all. He loves the pressure-filled occasions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s strange, I\u2019ve seen the odd thing from people that aren\u2019t in the know saying maybe somebody else should have got picked but it\u2019s not even close.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we were playing a small tournament in the middle of nowhere with no adrenaline maybe Shane wouldn\u2019t be the right pick, but when it comes to the Ryder Cup I\u2019d definitely be trusting him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lowry won one point from his three matches at Whistling Straits as Europe suffered a record 19-9 defeat to a home team whose lowest-ranked player at the time was world number 21 Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n
Scheffler went on to win four times in six starts in 2022, including the Masters, and is the current world number one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just caught them on our downturn and their upturn,\u201d Harrington added. \u201cThat one extra year due to Covid, our team went from peaking to slightly off.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMany of the US players were probably at their very peak at that stage and the Europeans are only coming into that now. Europe has got a lot stronger in those two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt ebbs and flows in the game of golf and I think the flow is with Europe now.\u201d<\/p>\n