‘I can’t stand them being here’: Lowry lets rip on ‘disruptive’ LIV golfers
The Ryder Cup rifts have deepened after Shane Lowry delivered a passionate rant about the LIV golfers playing at the BMW PGA Championship. George Cooper reports from Wentworth
Shane Lowry has admitted he “can’t stand” having certain LIV golfers compete at the BMW PGA Championship, ripping into their “disruptive” presence at Wentworth while asserting he wouldn’t be there if he was in their shoes.
In an impassioned rant, Lowry joined the likes of Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel in condemning the conglomerate of LIV golfers for playing in the DP World Tour’s flagship event, laying into the defectors while insisting most of them don’t deserve to be here.
“There’s some of the guys I kind of don’t mind them being here given what they have done for the [DP World] Tour over the years.” Lowry said. “[But] there are certain guys I just can’t stand being here to be honest. I don’t like it that they are here.
“To be honest, the one thing that has really annoyed me over the last few months is how disruptive they are all trying to be. I get they are here to get world ranking points and to do that. But in a way, I think they are here for that and to be disruptive. I don’t think they are here for anything else.
“If I put myself in those guys shoes, would I be here this week? No, it’s too uncomfortable for me. It is what it is. Like I said it’s the BMW PGA Championship, the biggest event in Europe and we would be talking about that and we are not. It’s disappointing.”
The comments came just hours after McIlroy exposed his fractured relationship with Ryder Cup teammates Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter – who all defected to LIV Golf back in May.
When pressed on such Ryder Cup rifts, Lowry then also admitted he hasn’t spoke to them in “a long time”, and won’t be “going out for dinner” with the LIV stars during the Wentworth reunion.
“Anybody that knows me knows I don’t like confrontation or any of that stuff.” The Irishman continued. “I’ll say hello and do my thing. That’s the way I’ll be. Obviously the lads, I’ve known them for years and some of them became quite good friends over the last few years.
“But obviously I haven’t seen them in a long time now. Don’t hang out with them anymore. Probably won’t be going out for dinner because we haven’t seen each other. But yeah there are certain lads that I shake hands with and certain hands I wouldn’t.”
- MORE FROM WENTWORTH: Gooch shuts down LIV friction at Wentworth
- MORE FROM WENTWORTH: Poulter and Horschel filmed deep in discussion
George Cooper
A golf fanatic his entire life, George Cooper is NCG's man for all goings-on at the top level of the game, whether it's the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA or LIV Golf. He also looks after NCG's Twitter and Facebook accounts. George is a member of Woburn, but is not friends with Ian Poulter.
