With Lowry’s destiny out of his own hands, Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard’s tied-13th place finish in the British Masters at The Belfry – won by Sweden’s Alex Noren – was sufficient to leapfrog him up to fifth place in the qualifying standings, moving ahead of Tyrrell Hatton, who secured the sixth automatic spot, and dropping Lowry to seventh.

A quirk in Team Europe's Ryder Cup selection process means that Irishman Shane Lowry is likely to need one of Luke Donald's six captain's picks to make the team. The cutoff to determine Europe's six automatic qualifying spots is this weekend,