Shane Lowry: My entire 2023 season has been about Ryder Cup

Shane Lowry has said that his entire 2023 season has been built around participating at – and winning – the Ryder Cup.

The Offaly man is preparing for his second appearance for Europe having made his debut in the heavy loss to Team USA at Whistling Straits in 2021.

Lowry finished inside the top 20 at the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday – a quadruple bogey on his penultimate hole preventing an even better finish – and with all 12 members of Luke Donald's side making the cut, the hosts appear to be in good form ahead of the Rome event later this month.

Seven of the team finished inside the top 10, with Tyrrell Hatton a runner-up to victor Ryan Fox, Jon Rahm fourth, Viktor Hovland fifth and Tommy Fleetwood sixth.

Rory McIlroy had finished on the cut-line on Friday but rounds of 67 and 65 over the weekend saw him finish in a tie for seventh, five shots off New Zealander Fox.

"I can see a scoreboard there, there’s five of the team in the top seven today," Lowry told RTÉ Sport.

"There’s a few more that are just behind that like myself, and I think our team is playing well and look I think we have a great team – there's no two ways about it.

"I think we’ve got a great chance, I think the Americans are going to be very strong and I think there’s all the potential to be a great Ryder Cup."

For Lowry, an up and down season – one that included three top-20 finishes in majors – has been boosted by his performance at Wentworth on the back of a joint third finish at the Irish Open the previous week.

He required a wild card pick from Donald to make the European team, remarking that he was glad to "shut a few people up" after his performance at the K Club, and reiterated just how important the Ryder Cup was to him.

"That’s what it’s all about," he