Lowry: It’s win or bust for my Hazeltine hopes

Shane Lowry believes he must win this week’s Made In Denmark to stand any chance of earning a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup.

The Irishman appeared to be well positioned to earn an automatic spot on Darren Clarke’s European team for competition, which is due to take place at Hazeltine National Golf Club, after he secured a tie for second place at the US Open in June.

The 29-year-old has failed to kick-on since that impressive showing however, as he missed four straight cuts earlier this summer, with two of those failings coming at The Open and the PGA Championship.

The world number 35 needed to finish outright fourth or better at last week’s Wyndham Championship to stand any chance of earning an automatic spot on the team, but he eventually finished in a tie for 42nd, with Andy Sullivan and Matt Fitzpatrick securing the final qualification places.

Lowry will now be hoping to earn one of the three available captain’s picks for the competition, but he believes he will have to win this week’s European Tour event in Denmark to keep his hopes of a first Ryder Cup appearance alive.

“I think I just need to go [to Denmark] and win to catch their eye at all,” Lowry told Sky Sports. “Obviously the last six weeks haven’t gone to plan since the US Open, but other than that my year has been okay.

“I’ve been playing well in the last couple of years, but just had a little bit of bad form at the wrong time. I feel like I can go and win next week, so that’s what I’m going to try and do.”

Europe will be looking to maintain their dominance in the Ryder Cup at this year’s event as they have won six of the last seven competitions, including their most recent success at Gleneagles two years ago.

Tagged Europe, European Tour, Made in Denmark, Ryder Cup, Ryder Cup 2016, Shane Lowry