Lowry picks McDowell for November World Cup in Melbourne
Shane Lowry might have missed out on the US Open and an Olympic medal but he’ll be going for World Cup glory in Melbourne in November with Graeme McDowell as his partner.
With Rory McIlroy unavailable, the world No 35 qualified automatically for the the $8m World Cup of Golf at Kingston Heath from November 23-27 and nominated world No 70 McDowell to go with him to battle for a $2.56 million team prize.
“I’m very excited,” Lowry said. “I played in the World Cup three years ago down in Melbourne, but it was in a different format so I’m looking forward to the team format with foursomes and fourballs.
“It’s a nice place to go at the end of the year, and a nice tournament so hopefully I can get down there and do well.
“Padraig [Harrington] and Paul [McGinley] won it back in 1997 so we’ll go down this year and try to win it for Ireland.”
It’s not the first time that Lowry and McDowell have represented Ireland in the event.
Lowry made his debut and McDowell his fourth appearance at Royal Melbourne in the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf 2013, when it was pure medal play.
Individual scores were added together with McDowell 15th and Lowry 44th behind individual winner Jason Day, who also took the team prize with Adam Scott as Ireland ended up 26 strokes adrift in 11th place.
Lowry said: “We didn’t see each other for the whole week because we were at completely opposite ends of the draw, so it’s very exciting to get to play with him in foursomes and fourballs this time. We’ll go there with a chance.”
The 2016 tournament returns to a 72-hole, stroke play, two-man team event format with foursomes on the first and third days and fourballs on the second and final days.
There will be 28, two-man teams in action with Day and Scott representing Australia, Rickie Fowler and US PGA champion Jimmy Walker flying the flag for the USA and Masters champion Danny Willett nominating Lee Westwood for England.
2016 World Cup of Golf Field:
Country Name OWGR INT WINS World Cup of Golf appearances Years
AUS Jason Day 1 11 1 2013
AUS Adam Scott 7 26 3 2001, 2002, 2013
AUT Bernd Wiesberger 60 4 1 2013
AUT Martin Wiegele 1224 4 1 2004
BEL Thomas Pieters 54 2 0
BEL Nicolas Colsaerts 124 2 2 2011, 2013
CAN David Hearn 138 1 1 2013
CAN Graham DeLaet 144 4 2 2008, 2009
CHN Ashun Wu 140 2 1 2013
CHN Haotong Li 161 0 0
DEN Søren Kjeldsen 45 4 5 98, 99, 03, 04, 09
DEN Thorbjørn Olesen 71 3 2 11, 14
ENG Danny Willett 10 5 1 2013
ENG Lee Westwood 43 41 0 0
ESP Rafa Cabrera Bello 26 4 1 2013
ESP Jon Rahm 126 0 0 0
FIJ Vijay Singh 127 56 3 01, 02, 13
FIJ Krishna Singh 1835 0 0
FRA Victor Dubuisson 90 2 1 2013
FRA Romain Langasque 209 0 0
GER Alex Cejka 117 8 11 95-97, 00, 02, 03, 05, 07, 08, 09, 11
GER Stephan Jaeger 415 0 0
IND SSP Chawrasia 234 3 0
IND S Chikarangappa 439 0 0
IRL Shane Lowry 35 3 1 2013
IRL Graeme McDowell 70 11 4 08, 09, 11, 14
ITA Francesco Molinari 58 3 6 06-09, 11, 14
ITA Matteo Manassero 316 4 1 2013
JPN Hideki Matsuyama 16 7 0 0
JPN Ryo Ishikawa 197 13 1 2013
KOR Byeong Hun An 34 2 0
KOR K.T. Kim 51 14 0
NED Joost Luiten 68 4 1 2011
NED Darius van Driel 404 0 0
NZL Danny Lee 47 2 1 2009
NZL Ryan Fox 136 2 0
PHI Miguel Tabuena 155 0 0
PHI Angelo Que 368 0 3 2008, 2009, 2014
POR Ricardo Gouveia 137 0 0
POR José-Filipe Lima 358 0 2 2005, 2013
RSA Jaco Van Zyl 77 12 0
RSA George Coetzee 128 7 1 2013
SCO Russell Knox 30 2 0 0
SCO Duncan Stewart 370 0 0 0
SWE Alex Noren 39 5 1 2011
SWE David Lingmerth 52 1 0
THA Thongchai Jaidee 42 18 4 07, 08, 09, 11
THA Kiradech Aphibarnrat 57 4 2 2011, 2013
TPE Cheng Tsung Pan 196 0 0
TPE Chan Shih-chang 381 0 0
USA Rickie Fowler 8 6 0 0
USA Jimmy Walker 19 6 0 0
VEN Jhonattan Vegas 83 3 1 2009
VEN Julio Vegas 1835 0 0
WAL Jamie Donaldson 89 4 2 2009, 2011
WAL Bradley Dredge 105 2 7 2002-2008
