When you think about it, it seems that Shane Lowry was made for the Ryder Cup.
His character, his personality, plus his career year - it seemed like having the Ryder Cup in late September/October was the perfect time. But Lowry is on the outside looking in.
Three missed cuts in a row, in his only tournaments since that final day collapse at the US Open has seen Lowry tumble out of the Ryder Cup reckoning. He's now languishing adrift of the automatic qualifying spots with Victor Dubuisson, Thorbjorn Olsen, Soren Kjeldsenm and Lee Westwood all ahead of him.
With Clarke indicating that he wants to favour experience with his wildcard picks - Lowry's status as a Ryder Cup virgin might remain beyond 2016.
Lowry is clearly not in a good place with his golf at the moment, admitting during the Open that things weren't right, and he echoed that after missing the cut again in the season's final major:
I'm certainly not loving it either, but it just feels like I'm getting nothing out of my golf at the minute. I shot two over yesterday and yeah, I was happy with my birdie at the last, I was okay, happy enough with my score, finishing two over, but I felt like I got nothing out of it.
So what's actually going wrong?
I said to my dad, driving back in the van, I feel like I'm driving well, feel like my iron play is good, feel like my short game is good enough, and I feel good on the greens and I'm five over par.
There's not much more I can say. I'm not particularly enjoying my golf at the minute, maybe that's part of it but I just can't put my finger on it.
Lowry had indicated that he was tired during the Open and was looking forward to a break, but has since added next week's Travelers Championship to his schedule. Whether he should or will play is another thing entirely.
I probably needed a good week this week to get on the Ryder Cup team and I'm not playing that now, so what's the point in playing next week? That's the way I'm feeling.
Ryder Cup qualification ends on August 28th, with Clarke to announce his three picks the following week.
