Ryder Cup: Shane Lowry reveals his wife 'got dog's abuse' from US fans at Whistling Straits

3 years ago 356

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Shane Lowry says he is determined to help Europe regain the Ryder Cup after revealing that his wife suffered "dog's abuse" at last week's event.

Lowry, 34, said he "got on well" with the crowd during his debut appearance.

But the Irishman added: "I didn't think it was that bad until I asked my wife what it was like for her, and they got dog's abuse going around as well."

He continued: "It's not very nice for them to have to listen to it, but that's a small percentage of the crowd."

With only a handful of European fans able to travel to Whistling Straits due to coronavirus restrictions, Padraig Harrington's team came up against a fiercely partisan crowd on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

Lowry, one of Harrington's three captain's picks, earned a point for Europe alongside Tyrrell Hatton in Saturday's fourballs session, but fell to a 4&2 defeat by Patrick Cantlay in his singles match on Sunday as Steve Stricker's team cruised to victory.

Europe will have the chance to reclaim the cup at Marco Simone Golf Club in Italy in 2023.

"I finished my match on 16 on Sunday and I was walking back down to follow the other groups and I got a huge ovation off the crowd and in the grandstand on 16, that was pretty cool," added 2019 Open champion Lowry.

"I thought I got on well with the crowd last week as best I could. They are obviously a home crowd and they are going to be a partisan crowd.

"Some of the stuff is not very nice. But look, that's just the way it is. Some people are idiots, especially when they drink.

"Nobody turns into a genius with drinking and that's what they were doing last week, especially if you were out in the afternoon matches. It was loud.

"As a team it was hard for us to perform our best because you stand up and you hit a three-iron into 10 feet from 250 yards and you don't even get a ripple of applause. You almost get booed for it."

The 19-9 defeat provided a bitterly disappointing conclusion to Harrington's captaincy, with Lowry expressing his disappointment that Europe failed to perform well enough to take down a strong US team.

"I'm just so disappointed for Paddy to be honest," he said. "I don't think he deserves the beating we got last week.

"It's hard because he's a very good friend and that's what I'm most disappointed about last week is we didn't perform as a team for him.

"But as regards the week itself, I couldn't have envisaged what it would be like for me. It was amazing. It was one of the best experiences of my life and it's the only thing I want to do for the next two years.

"I don't care what I do for the next two years now as long as I'm back in Rome to try to take the trophy back off them."

Lowry is back in action on the European Tour this week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which returns for its 20th staging at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns after being cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

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