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28th September 2023
03:06pm BST
"Look, you have to back yourself," he added. "If people are talking about you saying you shouldn't be on the team or this, that and the other, it's obviously not going to sit well with you because you feel like you should be there and you want to be there. "I felt like at the Irish Open, what should have been an amazing few days after getting picked on the Ryder Cup Team, was kind of a bit of a downer for me because I had to kind of fight off all this negative talk in my head."If Lowry is seeking to stave off negativity, he could do with steering clear of the America golf bubble on social media, and skip the No Laying Up Ryder Cup preview featuring Golf Digest writer, Shane Ryan.
"If I was a fan, I'd be concerned. If Lowry or Rose do not play well - if one of them has a stinker - I could see where they'd be in a little bit of trouble." "They treat Lowry like a 10 Ryder Cup veteran," said Ryan, before adding, "He went 1 and 2 in the one time that he played... Shane Lowry was the one name I was going to come up with it [for potential Least Valuable Player]."Later in the show, Ryan was impressing upon the match-play credentials of Team USA star Patrick Cantlay and harked back to his singles game against Lowry, in the last Ryder Cup. Lowry fell three-down to Cantlay after only eight holes and there were a few fractious moments over the course of their match. Ryan recalled:
"He was playing against Shane Lowry and, at the turn, Padraig Harrington [European captain] was standing at that area that overlooked everything. First of all, Cantlay came marching through, looking like he just wanted to murder somebody. "Shane Lowry came after him, and I think he was only one or two down, at the time. He just looked at Harrington and goes, 'I'm sorry'. "He was just so thoroughly beat by this guy. It was just one of those things... Cantlay is your biggest psychopath, and I mean that in a good way."Lowry would birdie the next hole, on 10, to get back to just two back of the American but that was as good as it got. He was beaten 4&2 as the Europeans lost 19-9 in Wisconsin. During an interview with Paddy Power, last year, Lowry admitted that 'Patrick Cantlay p***ed me off on the 8th hole'. "He was riling up the crowd whilst I was lining up my putt annoyed me quite a lot, and I didn’t feel that it was good from him, but it is what it is. In Rome, we’ll hopefully win and win in a different style, that’s how I’m looking at it. " If Shane Lowry needed even a smidge more fire for the belly, heading into the 2023 Ryder Cup, he has it now. One hopes there is a chance to meet Cantlay in match-play or teams action at Marco Simone Golf Club.
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