Three signature events remain on the PGA Tour’s schedule – the Wells Fargo Championship, Memorial Tournament and Travelers Championship.
By virtue of winning the Zurich Classic alongside Rory McIlroy on Sunday, Shane Lowry is now exempt into all three of them.
“I wasn’t going to be in Quail Hollow, I was hoping to get an invite for Memorial, and Travelers I really didn’t know what was going to happen,” Lowry said. “I knew I needed to make up some FedExCup points, and this gets me in those, and it means I can plan my schedule now. With family stuff and my wife and kids going back to Ireland in the summer, it means I really don’t have to stay over here and grind it out too long. I can do more what I feel like I wanted to do. It’s freed me up a lot this summer.
“Hopefully we (he and McIlroy) can both kick on now. We’ve got three majors left. Hopefully we can get one each, or maybe two and one.”
Lowry will be qualified for the remaining signature events either as a tournament winner or, at least for now, via a spot in the Aon Next 10, which consists of the top 10 players in the FedExCup standings who didn’t finish inside the top 50 in points last season.
The current Next 10 looks like this:
1. Ludvig Åberg
2. Matthieu Pavon
3. Shane Lowry
4. Will Zalatoris
5. Stephan Jaeger
6. Akshay Bhatia
7. Justin Thomas
8. Jake Knapp
9. Christiaan Bezuidenhout
10. Austin Eckroat
Five spots will also be available into the Wells Fargo Championship in two weeks via the Aon Swing 5, which for Wells Fargo will be the top five in aggregate points from last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship, the Zurich and next week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Though they finished runner-up to McIlroy and Lowry, losing in a playoff, Martin Trainer and Chad Ramey moved into position to earn exemptions into Wells Fargo.
“Obviously a little disappointed, but overall I think it’s important to see the big picture,” Trainer said, “and we had a really good week.”
The current Swing 5 looks like this:
1. Billy Horschel
2. Chad Ramey
3. Wesley Bryan
4. Martin Trainer
5. Kevin Tway
