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Shane Lowry expects America to win the Ryder Cup

Shane Lowry expects the American team to win this weekend's Ryder Cup as he prepares to watch the...



Shane Lowry expects America to...
Golf

Shane Lowry expects America to win the Ryder Cup

Shane Lowry expects the American team to win this weekend's Ryder Cup as he prepares to watch the event from afar.

After his brilliant performance at the US Open, the Offaly star looked set to make the team, but a run of poor results in the second half of the summer, saw Lowry fall out of contention. 

Still waiting to make his first Ryder Cup team, the former Irish Open champion told Newstalk Breakfast he was "a bit jealous" of seeing the players in Hazeltine, before adding "I'll definitely be on the next one" in France in 2018. 

Lowry still thinks the Ryder Cup would have brought out the best in his game. "I definitely think I would have blossomed in a situation like that. It's up to myself to make the next team and show what I can do in France."

When asked about potential characters in the team, that could improve morale, Lowry singled out the rookie Andy Sullivan. The two men played together for Europe in the EurAsia Cup earlier this year, and won both of their matches as a pair.

"Andy Sullivan's a great lad. He'll be very good in the team room. He's great craic. He's very outgoing".

Despite having won the last three Ryder Cups, Lowry feels a European win in Hazeltine would even outdo the historic comeback at Medinah in 2012.

"If they win this week's it's probably the greatest victory of all time. This American team is possibly the greatest team that has ever played a Ryder Cup."

Pairings will be crucial on the opening two days, and Lowry feels Rory McIlroy could be paired with Sullivan over the course of Friday and Saturday.

"[Rory's] played a lot of practice rounds with him this year. That tells me that Darren [Clarke] has said to him; 'Right, the two of of you are going to be playing together, so you need to get to know each other."

Half of Darren Clarke's team are rookies, but Lowry expects them to cope well in front of a raucous crowd in Minnesota.

"The European players have played in big tournaments. They have all won big tournaments. The Ryder Cup is a different animal altogether, but once they get past the crowd, at the end of the day, it's just another golf course."

Although he thinks America will win he thinks Davis Love's team are "trying a bit hard" with the addition of players like Bubba Watson and Tiger Woods as vice-captains.

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