Shane Lowry happy to 'shut a few people up' after criticism of Ryder Cup selection

Shane Lowry admits he was not best pleased to hear criticism of his Ryder Cup wild card after taking the chance to "shut a few people up" with his performance in the Irish Open.

Lowry received one of captain Luke Donald's six picks having finished 11th on the European points list and eighth on the world points list, with only the top three on each qualifying automatically.

The former Open champion won the first qualifying event – and will defend his BMW PGA Championship title this week – but his sole top-10 finish in 2023 prior to The K Club came in February’s Honda Classic.

That led to criticism of Lowry’s selection, with former British Masters winner Richard Bland among those believing that Adrian Meronk’s consistent form – including May’s Italian Open victory at the Ryder Cup venue – meant the Pole "deserves a pick over an out-of-form Lowry".

"I know there was a little bit about that last week and…. I need to be careful here," Lowry said in his pre-tournament press conference at Wentworth.

"Didn’t sit very well with me to be honest. I feel like, yes, my results have not been amazing this year, but I feel if you purely go down to statistics and go down the 12 best players in Europe, I’m one of them. And I feel like I deserve my place on the team.

"I didn’t feel like I had to go out and prove anything to anyone last week. The Irish Open is a huge tournament for me and a tournament I wanted to play well in.

"If it shut a few people up, so be it, but I wasn’t trying to do that last week. I wasn’t trying to finish third last week, I was trying to win the tournament. So last week was disappointing for me.

"This week is the same. I’m trying to win the tournament here this week. I know I deserve to be on that team and I know I’ll be