Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington has highlighted the importance of Shane Lowry's win at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship last month as the Offaly man looks to earn a place on the next Ryder Cup team.
Lowry has made making the team to take on America in 2020 as one of his main goals over the next 18 months and the win so early in the season has helped his cause dramatically.
The Irishman posted 18-under par for the event to take a one shot victory over Richard Sterne and catapulted himself up the world rankings and completely changed his playing schedule over the coming months.
Harrington was on this week's Saturday Panel and speaking about his fellow countryman, he told Nathan: "Myself and Peter (Lawrie) were discussing it before we came in there - you could not pick a better golf tournament for Shane to win at this time. It gets him right back in to the top 50 - playing the Majors, playing the World (Golf Championship) events.
"It is so difficult to make the Ryder Cup team next September if you're not in the top 50. If you're trying to make it by playing the small tournaments - it just doesn't happen.
"If you're in those big events - you only need to play well in two or three of them. It's a must and he has done exactly what he needs to - it's not going to get him in the team at the end of the day winning a tournament 18 months beforehand but it puts him in a position where it's within his control," he added.
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