SHANE LOWRY was gutted to have the Honda Classic "stolen" by maiden winner Sepp Straka, but he was thrilled with the state of his game just two weeks before the $20 million Players Championship.

His runner-up finish catapulted him from 50th to 35th in the world and from 221st to 46th in the FedEx Cup, and he's upbeat as he counts down to the Masters in six weeks.

"It's hard to take to be honest," said Lowry, who was unfortunate heavy rain hit the course as he tried in vain to birdie the 18th to force a playoff. "I feel like I have had the tournament stolen from me today."

He added: "Fair play to him, he finished well. The last hole, that was as bad a break as I've ever got. Especially when you stand on the tee, and you see him over that left bunker, which I'd have been able to [carry] if there'd been no rain.

"It was only a drive and a four or five-iron. I probably would have given myself a better chance of a four, but it is what it is.

"It's a great week for me. I probably played some of the best golf of my whole career this week around a very tough golf course and I'll take that into The Players and hopefully, I can have a good week there."

He won't be joining Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell or Séamus Power in this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill but will instead build up for the Masters by playing The Players, the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play and the Valspar Championship.

"I had no success at Bay Hill, so I'm adding Valspar instead this year, and I am going to play pretty hard over the next few months and hopefully get some good rewards," said Lowry, who will spend two days at Augusta before the Masters.

World number 47 Power will be making his Bay Hill debut under pressure to remain in the top 50 with only the Players and the WGC Dell Match Play to come before the qualification cut-off.

"I've played Sawgrass, but I haven't played Bay Hill," said Power, who celebrated his recent achievements with family and friends in Dungarvan on Friday. "My card never got me in there. I've heard mixed things, but I'm looking forward to seeing it."

Paul McGinley recently suggested Power will be tested against higher quality fields from now on and the West Waterford man agreed, adding: "He's not wrong. In many of the tournaments I've played well, there haven't been as many big names, but I'm looking forward to it."

Meanwhile, Zach Johnson has been handed the task of becoming the first US Ryder Cup skipper to win on European soil since 1993.

The former Masters and Open champion (46) revealed he'll have Steve Stricker as one of his vice-captains in Rome next year, as well as six picks.

He admitted he was "hooked" from the moment he made his debut at The K Club in 2006 when coming from two down with three to play with Chad Campbell to halve with Harrington and McGinley in the Friday foursomes.

"Captain Lehman pulls up, kind of asked me where we were in the match," he recalled of his indecision over taking on the 16th in two. "And he just gave me a nice piece of advice. He's like, 'You're here for a reason. Just hit it'."

Europe may not name Harrington's successor until mid-March due to Henrik Stenson's possible defection to the Saudi-backed Super Golf League.

Luke Donald, Robert Karlsson and Paul Lawrie are the other candidates, but Harrington, who must sit down with Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn, Keith Pelley and David Howell to choose his successor, is tight-lipped.

"I'm not allowed to discuss the timeline; I'm specifically not allowed to discuss who's in it," he said. "They won't want opinions getting out there.

"There's four guys in there with a chance and if I start talking about one, it could be misconstrued as me favouring them."