World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is now staring at a showdown with good friend and fellow management stablemate, Shane Lowry in the opening round of next week’s WGC – Accenture Match-Play Championship and all thanks to a little PGA Tour rookie.
Lowry dropped one place to World No. 65 following the adjustment earlier today of the official World Rankings.
However with four-time Major winning, Phil Mickelson and the World No. 10 again not competing qualifying for the $US 8.75m event has included the world’s top-65 players.
Patrick Reed’s birdie on the final hole of the AT & T Pebble Beach ensures Shane Lowry will be contesting next week’s WGC – Accenture Match-Play Championship.
Lowry had faced an anxious 11 days before confirmation of his place in the season’s first WGC.
The reigning Portugal Masters champion missed the cut in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic but elected to return home to Ireland rather than travel to South Africa for the Joburg Open.
Lowry dropped two places to World No. 64 at the close of the Dubai event and the Irishman can thank PGA Tour rookie, Patrick Reed for a shot now at the $US 1.5m first prize cheque on offer next week in Arizona.
“Absolutely buzzing for the Matchplay next week,” said Lowry on Twitter.
The 22-year old Texas-born Reed produced a remarkable birdie from rocks down the left side at the final hole of last night’s AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to deny tie Freddie Jacobson for seventh place and thus deny the Swede seventh place on his own.
Reed’s share of seventh with Jacobson meant Jacobssen missing out on the Match-Play and handing Lowry 65th place on the Rankings by just 10-thousandths of a world ranking point.
Jacobson had been lying sixth before Aussie Jason Day also birdied the 72nd hole that saw the Swede drop to seventh.
But then Jacobson must have breathed a sigh of relief in seeing Reed, a graduate from the last year’s last-ever PGA Tour School, drive onto the rocks along the Pacific Ocean shoreline.
Though Jacobson, and everyone looking on didn’t count on Reed, a two-time NCAA champion with Augusta State University, playing his second shot off the rocky area 124-years back onto the fairway from where he was staring at 128-yards to the flag and needing a birdie at the par five hole to rob Jacobson.
Reed had the crowd roaring with approval but left Jacobson in despair when he put his third shot to 11 foot and knocked into the birdie putt.
It meant when the World Rankings were adjusted by the European Tour’s Ian Barker Lowry was ranked 65th in the world with 1.9801 points and Jacobson lying 66th with 1.9799 ranking pionts.
So the difference was just 0.0002 that now allows Lowry to contest the event for a first-ever occasion.
And with Mickelson again electing to take a ‘family holiday’ during a break in his childrens schooling Lowry can now pack his bags for Arizona.
World No. 2 Tiger Woods will return to competition for a first time since his stunning Torrey Pines success to face fellow American and World No. 64 Charles Howell 111.
