AS HAPPY AS LOWRY

Shane's delighted to spend a few nights in his own bed & he can sleep easy after Ryde call was made amid fears he might not make team for trip into Lion's den

- BY MICHAEL SCULLY

SHANE LOWRY might hold back Rory McIlroy in the Ryder Cup car park this time.

Then again, maybe he won't.

"I don't know, it depends what day it is," he laughed, referencing the crazy scenes after the Saturday afternoon session between Europe and the US in Rome two years ago, when Lowry was cast in the role of peacemaker and McIlroy's protector.

The Clara man seemed to be a certainty for a pick for this month's edition of the biannual competition as he just missed out on automatic qualification.

Yet he wasn't as certain himself and it was only on Sunday, on the eve of Luke Donald's wildcards announcement, that he got the full nod from the captain (inset).

"Over the last while, he's kept me in the loop a little bit because I was obviously in the team and out of the team and in the team," Lowry said.