Lowry seeks $25 million FedEx Cup payday before switching focus to 2025 Ryder Cup
Shane Lowry reacts after making his putt on the 17th hole during the third round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
No, Shane Lowry said, grinning. He won’t be putting in a bid for The European Club if he wins the $25 million FedEx Cup bonus on his debut at the Tour Championship in Atlanta this week.
For starters, he’d still be $13 million short of the $38 million starting price for the Brittas Bay links. His goal is simply to make the most of his belated debut in the season-ending 30-man event at a revamped East Lake, where he will be starting on three-under and spotting world number one Scottie Scheffler a whopping seven strokes.
The Offaly man might be running low on energy as he plays his sixth event in seven weeks and his fifth in a row. But he’s still looking to build up a head of steam for a return to Europe for a three-week run comprising the Irish Open, the BMW PGA and the Spanish Open and making a flying start to the 2025 Ryder Cup qualifying campaign.
“If you can't get up for a tournament like this and you can't keep it going for four days on a week like this, you're in the wrong game, so I'll be fine,” Lowry said.
He likely won’t be playing the Team Cup or any of the DP World Tour’s desert swing events early next year as the new qualifying system allows him to target the big US events—the Majors (5,000 points); the PGA Tour Signature Events, The Players and the FedExCup Playoffs (3,000 pts); and regular PGA Tour stops (1,500 pts)— rather than chasing fewer points in DP World Tour events that fall during the FedExCup season.
“I think the new points system… might have favoured guys like us—not favoured, but we don't need to go chasing it as much as we used to in Europe anymore,” Lowry said when explaining why he might skip the desert swing and January’s Team Trophy (formerly the Hero Cup) clash between GB&I and Continental Europe in Abu Dhabi.
“Back before, you used to have to go play the big tournaments just to try and chase points because you're trying to make the team on both sides, whereas we're obviously getting points for all the events over here now, which is amazing.
“Luke just wants the 12 best players on the team. To be honest, I just want the 12 best players on the team. I just hope I'm one of them.”
Lowry conceded he’d likely go to Abu Dhabi if Donald or Rose asked him to play. But crisscrossing the pond is exhausting, which explains why it’s taken him ten years to make it to Atlanta.
“It's almost embarrassing that I haven't been here,” said Lowry, who feels the complete overhaul of the East Lake course has levelled the playing field.
“Everybody keeps saying how different it is, but it's obviously just a new golf course for me, so I don't really know anything different, which is great. It's great to hear the lads moaning about it inside the locker room, and I'm happy with what I see.”
He finds the emphasis on hitting fairways “refreshing,” which could make it challenging for McIlroy, given his recent erratic driving form.
“The modern game is not really played like that anymore,” Lowry said of the bomb-and-gouge game. “I think even with a wedge in your hand around here, you're going to struggle to hit greens.”
Scheffler will start on 10-under with Xander Schauffle eight-under, Hideki Matsuyama seven-under, Keegan Bradley six-under and three-time FedEx Cup winner Rory McIlroy back in a five-man group on four-under.
“I give shots to my friends every day at home, but my friends are not Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele,” Lowry joked. “It’s new, but a good start the first day and you're back in the tournament.”
As for the format that Scheffler called “silly” given he’s won six times (not including Olympic gold), Lowry believes it’s all part of selling golf.
“That’s American sports,” he said. “I certainly don't deserve to come here to East Lake and start on the same score as Scottie Scheffler. But it's up to me to try and make that up this week.”
There are no European Ryder Cup points available in the US, but the qualifying race begins at the Betfred British Masters at the Belfry today with Tom McKibbin, who recently split with caddie Dave McNeilly, joined in the field by Simon Thornton.
