Shane Lowry - 2019 Champion Golfer of The Year (note first post please for posting guidance)

Rikand

European Points List (top 4 from this automatically qualify)
Rank|Player|Points
1|Jon RAHM|5,185.82
2|Tommy FLEETWOOD|4,911.26
3|Tyrrell HATTON|4,860.56
4|Rory MCILROY|3,975.19
5|Victor PEREZ|3,676.75
6|Matthew FITZPATRICK|2,940.90
7|Bernd WIESBERGER|2,742.13
8|Paul CASEY|2,679.16
9|Robert MACINTYRE|2,665.57
10|Danny WILLETT|2,318.39
11|Matthias SCHWAB|2,262.97
12|Lee WESTWOOD|2,220.65
13|Justin ROSE|2,120.95
14|Shane LOWRY|1,864.31


World Points List (top 5 from this automatically qualify outside of those 4 qualified from above)
Rank|Player|Points
1|Jon RAHM|378.78
2|Rory MCILROY|344.97
3|Tyrrell HATTON|269.02
4|Viktor HOVLAND|241.40
5|Paul CASEY|227.31
6|Lee WESTWOOD|226.98
7|Tommy FLEETWOOD|203.60
8|Matthew FITZPATRICK|200.36
9|Victor PEREZ|187.37
10|Shane LOWRY|154.09
11|Justin ROSE|132.38
12|Robert MACINTYRE|128.94
13|Danny WILLETT|123.46
14|Sergio GARCIA|115.58
15|Bernd WIESBERGER|101.62
16|Matt WALLACE|101.49


Blue are those who are qualifying as it stands from the European Points List.
Green are those who are qualifying as it stands from the World Points List.


Bernd Wiesberger the highest points scorer on the European Points list not already qualified, so if Padraig is going to take at least one more player from that list, then he is in pole position.

Shane Lowry the highest points scorer on the World Points list not already qualified, so if Padraig is going to take at least one more player from the world points list, then he is in pole position.

After that for the final pick, who the feck knows lol but Justin Rose or Sergio Garcia I would think the most likely given their previous Ryder Cup records and I think he will favour someone with experience to make up the final spot over a rookie such as MacIntyre, especially playing in the US.
He recently spoke about Garcia's pedigree in the Ryder Cup and of his record and said if Sergio was in need of a pick, he felt he would have to pick him based on his experience.

dublin49

if it was tomorrow .I would pick Shane ,Rose and Sergio,and I think Paddy would pick Shane and Rose and would have to decide between Weisberger and Sergio.If Sergio needs a pick come August there will be a lot of coverage around the previous bad feeling between Paddy and Sergio.

dublin49

dublin49 wrote: »

if it was tomorrow .I would pick Shane ,Rose and Sergio,and I think Paddy would pick Shane and Rose and would have to decide between Weisberger and Sergio.If Sergio needs a pick come August there will be a lot of coverage around the previous bad feeling between Paddy and Sergio.

I agree with the first 3 as it stands at the moment. Sergio the most points winner in the history of the Ryder Cup goes before Wiesberger 10 times out of 10 based on current form and experience.

endabob1

dublin49 wrote: »

if it was tomorrow .I would pick Shane ,Rose and Sergio,and I think Paddy would pick Shane and Rose and would have to decide between Weisberger and Sergio.If Sergio needs a pick come August there will be a lot of coverage around the previous bad feeling between Paddy and Sergio.

Agree with this, I think Rose is a shoe in, if Shane is in the same place at pick time I think he goes. I think the Sergio one will be interesting, suspect Harrington will look at the big picture, currently it's looking a pretty experienced team (2/3 rookies inc Shane) so he may go with a wildcard but if he feels that he needs an old head it could still conceivably be Poulter ahead of Sergio, although personally I would pick Sergio.

abff

dublin49 wrote: »

I think Paddy would pick Shane and Rose and would have to decide between Weisberger and Sergio. If Sergio needs a pick come August there will be a lot of coverage around the previous bad feeling between Paddy and Sergio.

That would certainly put a lot of pressure on Padraig. Just as he would need to have strong justification to include Shane, he would also need strong justification to exclude Sergio.

I wouldn’t like to be in Padraig’s position if there are two obvious wild card picks and a choice between Shane and Sergio for the third spot.

Shane and Sergio are both ahead of Rose at the moment I would imagine in Padraig's head. One in terms of form and Sergio is ahead of him in experience for the team.

There are no issues anymore with Padraig & Sergio. They were sorted out years ago at McIlroy's wedding so I don't think any previous will come into the decision making process.

The Big Easy

Harrington told the telegraph just before the PGA (I've copied the article below that Sergio would have to lose a limb not to make the team and also intimated that Shane was a pick as a major winner cannot really be referred to as a rookie. He also suggested Poulter was ahead of Rose in his thinking. Obviously ideally Shane gets in and he picks Sergio, JR and Poults, but as we all know we don't live in an ideal world so expect someone to be unhappy and I think JR would have to feel a little aggrieved if he missed out.


Europe captain Padraig Harrington has revealed Sergio Garcia “nearly needs to lose a limb” to miss out on a wildcard for September’s Ryder Cup and that Ian Poulter is “not far behind” as he considers his three picks for Whistling Straits.

Harrington also believes that the top nine in the Europe standings “look pretty well set” to qualify automatically.

The Irishman’s comments before Thursday’s first round of the USPGA Championship here at the Ocean Course, are bound to raise a few eyebrows in the camps of Justin Rose, Francesco Molinari, Henrik Stenson, Danny Willett and reigning Open champion, Shane Lowry.

As a supposed Europe stalwart who is only a few places off the automatic berths, Rose could feel especially shocked to hear he could essentially be in a dogfight for one spot.

Meanwhile, rookies such as Bob MacIntyre and Matt Wallace must now believe they require dramatic headway in the last few months of the points race to make it by right.

Speaking candidly to Telegraph Sport, Harrington said: “If you look at the team, the top nine guys are well up there. Yes, from now on it is double points [per qualifying event], the reason being that if someone plays well, form will be rewarded, but only one guy is going to play their way in at most.

“I would say the experienced players will now be playing to impress and the rookies should know they have to play their way in.

“If you look at the guys who aren’t in, it would be a very odd decision to overlook Sergio and Poulter so that doesn’t leave very much does it? Which is difficult. Justin is the perfect example. He showed at Augusta [where he finished seventh] that he likes the big event. And what if Frankie starts playing well?

“You got four or five Ryder Cup players in contention. Sergio will nearly need to lose a limb not to be picked and Poulter is not far behind him. Nobody is guaranteed a pick, but, well, you have to think with Sergio and Ian…”

Garcia is currently in 13th in the standings and with his status as the match’s all-time record point scorer, it would, indeed, be difficult to envisage the Spaniard being denied a 10th appearance.

Poulter, in contrast, is way down in 28th and is without a strokeplay top 10 in seven months. And despite the 45-year-old’s past performances and reputation in the biennial dust-up, Harrington’s bullishness regarding Poulter's candidature is a surprise. He is 67th in the world and has not even yet qualified for next month’s US Open in Torrey Pines.

However, Harrington clearly recalls Poulter’s stunning contribution in the 2012 success in Medinah, the only time the away side has won in the last 17 years. “I wouldn’t say it is impossible for the visiting team to come through but the results suggest it is getting that way,” Harrington said. “If you think the last time we did it, it was classed as a flaming ‘miracle’ and the US haven’t done it since what, 1993?

“That’s down to course set-up, but the good thing this year is that I’m not sure the Americans can set up Whistling Straits as a birdie-fest. It’s links-style, it’ll be windy and should play into European hands. It’s a Pete Dye layout like the Ocean Course and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we had European winners of majors at both of them [Martin Kaymer at Whistling Straits in 2010 and Rory McIlroy here in 2012].

“I would see this [US] PGA as a good chance for our guys and I would love to have one or more of this year’s major-winners in my team. Particularly a major on US soil as it’s been a while.”

Indeed, there have been 12 American majors since Garcia’s Masters glory in 2017, the longest barren stretch for Europe in the US since Harrington, himself, ended the humbling void of 28 US majors at this event in 2008.

abff

I’m surprised that Padraig was that forthright in his comments. I can’t imagine he was being careless, so I expect he had an agenda in making those remarks. It’s certainly a call to arms for those currently on the fringe of automatic qualification.

Regarding his assertion that the current top 9 are pretty well set, I would said Perez as being particularly at risk unless he can recover his form from earlier this season. Fitzpatrick also looks vulnerable, but the top 7 only need to show reasonable form over the next few months in order to qualify automatically.

Mind you, if anyone currently in the top 7 fails to qualify automatically, it will mean that they have failed to deliver any decent results over the next few months and that would probably rule them out of the reckoning for a wild card pick. Although, if it was Fleetwood or Westwood ...

eagle eye

Shane is definitely trending in the right direction.

abff

I note that MacIntyre (46th in the World Rankings) and Wiesberger (65th) are the two highest ranked players in this week’s European Tour event, but the winner of this event will earn more world ranking points than Lowry and Harrington did for their tied 4th finish in the PGA.

A win or solo second place will put MacIntyre ahead of Shane in the Ryder Cup World Points list, while a win will put Wiesberger within 5 points of Shane.

SeeMoreBut

abff wrote: »

I note that MacIntyre (46th in the World Rankings) and Wiesberger (65th) are the two highest ranked players in this week’s European Tour event, but the winner of this event will earn more world ranking points than Lowry and Harrington did for their tied 4th finish in the PGA.

A win or solo second place will put MacIntyre ahead of Shane in the Ryder Cup World Points list, while a win will put Wiesberger within 5 points of Shane.

The winner on challenge tour will get more than t8 in PGA

How many points should the winner get or 4th in pga?

abff

SeeMoreBut wrote: »

The winner on challenge tour will get more than t8 in PGA

How many points should the winner get or 4th in pga?

The problem is that the minimum points for the various tours were set when the disparity in standard was a lot less than it is now.

SeeMoreBut

abff wrote: »

The problem is that the minimum points for the various tours were set when the disparity in standard was a lot less than it is now.

What would you suggest then?

abff

SeeMoreBut wrote: »

What would you suggest then?

Hard to come up with a solution that pleases everyone. But maybe increase the points available for majors, or at least increase the multiplier used for Ryder Cup qualification?

h2005

Results haven’t really gone Shane’s way this weekend. He’ll need to get the finger out!

abff

h2005 wrote: »

Results haven’t really gone Shane’s way this weekend. He’ll need to get the finger out!

I presume that comment relates to the Ryder Cup rankings?

It actually could have been a lot worse. Yes, Wiesberger winning has brought him close to Shane in the World points list. But Poulter is still a good way behind him despite his tied 3rd finish and Sergio’s disastrous final round means he made very little inroads into Shane’s lead over him, while MacIntyre didn’t pick up any world ranking points at all.

MarcusP12

Obviously the easiest thing that Shane can do is just qualify for the damn thing automatically and give Paddy one less headache in terms of the picks....you wouldn't envy him to be honest as even if Shane does qualify, it doesn't solve the pick conundrums for him....

sergio - if he doesn't pick him when he's showing any kind of game in him will make him look like the feud thing is still an issue for him.
Poulter - is he going to not pick the Mr. RC? I'd pick him just to avoid the media hysteria around it and the distraction that brings. To be fair, Poulter still seems to have a bit of form in him and the RC as we know, brings out something in him...
Rose - he's the big conundrum i think....he still has it in him but needs to show a bit of form i think to be ahead of Sergio and Poulter as a pick.
McIntyre - hard to ignore. Did well stateside and Europe has a history of the plucky underdog being a hero.
Weisberger - don't think he's done much stateside when he's played? What's worth more, wins on the European tour in recent times or, as would be the case with someone like Shane, a fearless track record and winner on the PGA tour against lads you'll be competing against?

I've a feeling Shane is peaking at the right time and might sneak in automatically but needs a couple of very strong finishes in the bigger tournaments....fingers crossed!

boardise

Shane steaming along nicely -driving steady and short game on fire.
Currently 3rd with 4 birdies no bogeys after 13 and one par 5 still to come.

abff

The break in play probably didn’t help. A missed 5 footer on the 17th for his only bogey of the day. Still a solid first round and currently in the top ten.

TheRiverman

Yesterday's good work unravelling a bit today, two double bogeys so far in round two. Let's hope he steadies it.

kowloonkev

Suspension of play probably a good thing this time around. Can't be easy going out knowing that you are not going to finish, although same for everyone.

dublin49

great birdie on his 18th and up to -4 ,Rahm on fire but long way to go on tough course

abff

dublin49 wrote: »

great birdie on his 18th and up to -4 ,Rahm on fire but long way to go on tough course

Yes, great comeback by Shane after a ropey start to his round. Hopefully, he can keep things going over the weekend.

d1980

Couple under today up today up to 4th although have yet to see a shot on sky sports which is disappointing....

dublin49

d1980 wrote: »

Couple under today up today up to 4th although have yet to see a shot on sky sports which is disappointing....

yeah I just follow on shot tracker as coverage of Europeans can be very sparse on pga tour.

d1980

d1980 wrote: »

Couple under today up today up to 4th although have yet to see a shot on sky sports which is disappointing....

Sky are only taking the pictures from the US feed. They have no control over what they're seeing.

dublin49

Good bogey on 6,was in the water and off the green in 4 and made putt or chipped in from 20 feet.

d1980

Exactly wrote: »

Sky are only taking the pictures from the US feed. They have no control over what they're seeing.

I get that...even before the leaders came out, Lowry wasn’t shown ahead of lads +2. Not challenging your point, more an observation that a top 10 player should get a few shots on screen. But he is not American and up to a while ago outside rahm, top European

ElisaAtWar

Some par by Shane on the par 3

SeeMoreBut

Exactly wrote: »

Sky are only taking the pictures from the US feed. They have no control over what they're seeing.

You'd think people would know that by now

-4 for the Par 5s today. Keeping his round going.

TheRiverman

Hopefully another top ten finish tomorrow.

sydthebeat

A good round today could see a top 5 finish after what's happened to rahm.

TheRiverman

Nightmare start to round 4.

abff

TheRiverman wrote: »

Nightmare start to round 4.

After 4 holes, he’s 3 over and his strokes gained putting are -1.855. Next few holes will be a real test of character.

dball

FFS

Mantis Toboggan

abff wrote: »

After 4 holes, he’s 3 over and his strokes gained putting are -1.855. Next few holes will be a real test of character.

Nice bounce back with 3 birds in a row.

Mushy

Back to level for the day with 3 birdies to close out the front 9. A slam dunk on 9 to seal that

TheRiverman

Great fight back.

big_drive

Must say overall he's been in excellent form past few weeks

UnknownSpecies

How will this finish leave him in the Ryder Cup standings?

paulos53

I think he needed solo 5th to catch Perez.
He won't manage that but he should be only a few points behind now

Mantis Toboggan

Long way to go but if he doesn't qualify outright he's gone along way to justifying a pick over the last few weeks.

Mantis Toboggan

Mantis Toboggan wrote: »

Long way to go but if he doesn't qualify outright he's gone along way to justifying a pick over the last few weeks.

Top European performer this week (Rahm excluded)

Scrabbel

Good to see how relaxed and content he looked on that Sky interview. Would be brilliant to see him contend in 2 weeks time.

dublin49

circa 300k dolllars for joint sixth,great comeback from 3 over to 2 under for the day.Top european again is becoming a regular feature ,wont go unnoticed

TheRiverman

Brilliant from Shane after the awful start to the round.

ElisaAtWar

What is the association between Perez and Lowry. I don't understand this?

ElisaAtWar

That was some comeback from the young lad. Many would have folded after such a start. You look at Paul Dunne, he has fallen off the planet

abff

ElisaAtWar wrote: »

What is the association between Perez and Lowry. I don't understand this?

Perez is currently in the last automatic qualifying spot in the Ryder Cup points lists. Shane is one place behind him, therefore would move into an automatic qualifying spot if he passes Perez (and is not passed by someone currently behind him).

There's a lot of water to flow under the bridge between now and the end of Ryder Cup qualification. So getting into the automatic qualification spots at this stage does not mean he would make the team, but it would be better to be inside the qualification spots defending a lead than outside them trying to break in. And I imagine it would be a huge psychological boost.