Harrington said of Lowry: “He is a rookie but nobody thinks of him as a rookie. He’s a major champion, a World Golf Championship winner.”

Lowry’s grip on the final automatic Ryder Cup place is precarious, with at least a dozen players capable of shaking up the standings

Maguire will become the first Irishwoman to don the European colours in the Solheim Cup at Inverness Club in Toledo in a fortnight after deservedly receiving one of Catriona Matthew’s six wildcards

Lowry’s two-year reign as Open champion came to an end at the postponed 149th Championship at Royal St George’s but he felt his six-under total was not representative of how well he had played

Level par after a second-round 68 - the worst he could have scored by the Dubliner's estimation - Harrington sits inside the cut line yet nine shots adrift of afternoon leader Morikawa

Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington, and Darren Clarke are the other Irish competitors this week

Scott Michaux, Paul Keane, John McHenry, James Sugrue, Simon Lewis, and Kevin Markham pick their shortlist of contenders and Open champion for 2021

Harrington witnessed at close quarters Phi Mickelson becoming the oldest winner in major history in May’s US PGA Championship

Rory McIlroy missed the cut after a bizarre incident on the opening hole

Harrington feels he has little to prove but is still driven by the dream of majors

Irish golf professionals were joined by sporting stars and celebrities for the Irish Open Pro-Am at Mount Juliet on Wednesday

McIlroy and Fleetwood are the top-two ranked players in the field at Mount Juliet this week, while Catlin won the event at Galgorm Castle last year

Kearney recorded his best European Tour finish with a share of fourth in the Canary Islands Championship in May thanks to a closing 61, but had missed the cut in his last three starts

Kaymer and McDowell join Luke Donald and Robert Karlsson in Harrington’s backroom staff

New US Open champion spoke with the media on bouncing back, Mickelson, Harrington and the Spanish journalist who followed him around the world

Lowry climbed 20 places on the European Points List to 14th and into the top 10 on the World Points list for the Ryder Cup, leaving him on the bubble for one of the nine automatic selections for Team Europe

The Irish pairing of Harrington and Lowry carded matching rounds of 69 to charge up the leaderboard and claim a share of fourth place

"It was one of the best days I've had on the golf course."

Shane Lowry is confident he's well in contention too, although his putter let him down "big time" on day one of the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island