Manager to tour winners Graeme McDowell and Michael Hoey, Ridge said: “I don’t want to sound negative on that but I think a dose of realism is required around here.

Shane Lowry - in the eye of the storm

“He’s Asian, he’s not from Offaly, and I don’t mean that in a bad way.

“The big money to be made at the moment is on the golf course, not off it. The world has changed.”

Lowry is expected to announce that he will make his professional debut in next week’s European Open at the London Club in Kent. Just don’t expect to see him festooned with logos from big money sponsors.

Ridge explained: “You are talking about a guy who is Irish. It is a huge story in Ireland. Is it a big story in the ‘States? No. Is it a big story in the UK? They’ll take note of it.

“It’s a big, big story in Ireland, which is probably the most depressed market in the world at present, next to Iceland. People have got to take that on board.”

Horizon Sports issued an invitation at 7pm on Wednesday, asking the media attend a press conference in Dublin’s Westbury Hotel for a “significant announcement”. And while the invitation does not reveal that Horizon are signing Lowry or what his intentions are, Ridge made no secret of the fact that he wants to sign the hottest property in Irish golf and protect him.

Speaking at Wentworth yesterday, Ridge said: “I think we’d be the best company for him, without wanting to be biased in any way, I just don’t believe anyone would look after him the way we will.

“If he joins us the likes Graeme can help him, advise him, look after him, maybe more so than if he was with another company because I can influence that as well.

“Every country in the world is different, every culture is different. Nobody is going to be able to relate to Shane Lowry like we can.”

Rory McIlroy already had major deals lined up before he turned professional under ISM’s Chubby Chandler at the British Masters in September 2007. But Ridge believes that McIlroy’s former team mate Lowry is a totally different player who needs to be protected from the hype that has exploded in Ireland since the 22-year old amateur stunned the golfing world by winning the 3 Irish Open in a play-off last Sunday.

Ridge said: “I’ve never seen anything like this since I’ve been in management, which means he needs to be protected even more than most.

“Rory has a gradual build-up, this guy has been thrown straight in.”

Lowry has been uncontactable since he lifted the Irish Open and has not even been taking calls or replying to texts from triple major winner Padraig Harrington. On hearing the news of the imminent announcement, Harrington said: “He’s got to do what he’s got to do and nobody knows his situation but him.”

Like Harrington, Ryder Cup veteran and 1991 Walker Cup player Paul McGinley advised Lowry not to turn professional until after the Walker Cup.

“He should wait for three months, size up the professional world and play a few professional tournaments as an amateur over the summer,” McGinley said. “He could also then play a few top amateur events but take his time and get everything in place; get his sponsorship in place; get his management company in place and then play the Walker Cup and enjoy that experience.

“Shane now has time on his side, so give himself three months to enjoy what he has just achieved and not jump straight into the professional ranks head-first.”

It appears likely that the advice of Harrington and McGinley has fallen deaf ears. And Great Britain and Ireland skipper Colin Dalgleish is resigned to losing his top player for September’s matches with the US in Pennsylvania.

“I am disappointed from a Great Britain & Ireland point of view,” Dalgleish told Golfweek. “He was one of our stronger players and a good candidate to make the team. However, I understand and respect his choice. It was a big decision for him to make, and he’s obviously done what he thinks is best for his career.

“I am surprised he didn’t take the advice of Padraig (Harrington) and Paul McGinley. He’s got his whole life to play professional golf but just the one chance to play the Walker Cup. He could have waited until after the match. The money would have still been there for him.

“It’s not the first time we’ve lost a Walker Cup player midseason, and it won’t be the last. We’ll continue on, and I still believe we’ll have a strong team for the Walker Cup.”

But that reputation for self-inflicted misfortune changed a long time before the 3 Irish Open at Baltray, where he produced a performance that not only captured the hearts of sports fans everywhere but showed that this is a golfer who can compete at the very highest level.

Shane Lowery in action

Had he not won the Irish Open at Baltray, he would almost certainly have been back at Stage Two this year as a one of the world’s top 10 amateurs. Instead, he can look forward to an exemption that expires at the end of 2011 from the moment he turns professional. It is worth remembering that Lowry has been a serious contender for major honours for the best part of five years. In 2005 he won the club championship at Tullamore and the Leinster Boys title at Skerries.

But it was a member of Esker Hills that he first claimed notoriety on the international stage when he reached the semi-finals of the British Boys Championship in Norfolk.

In 2006, now 19, he looked certain to lead the qualifiers on his senior championship debut when he when he signed for a five under par 66 late in the day to top the leaderboard in the West of Ireland at Rosses Point. But his joy turned to tears in the space of minutes when he discovered that he had signed for an eagle three instead of a birdie four at the par-five fifth.

“I didn’t have a three there, I two putted for a four,” he said, paling visibly. “I’d better go tell them.” He then promptly headed for the scorer’s caravan where he was disqualified for a breach of Rule 6-6b – Wrong Score for Hole.

Just four weeks later lightning struck twice when he was disqualified for the second time in a row in a senior amateur championship after appearing to post a best of the day 74 to take the clubhouse lead early in the third round of a rain-lashed Irish Amateur Open at Portmarnock.

“It was raining hard when he came off and I checked the scores, made sure everything was correct and just threw the card in,” he said. Unfortunately, he had failed to sign it and was disqualified immediately.

Things started to go right for him when he finish third in the East of Ireland at Baltray the following month and earned his senior International call up for the Home International Matches at at Pyle and Kenfig in Wales later that year. In 2007 he was third in the East of Ireland again, captured the Irish Close title in Cork and helped Ireland win the European Amateur Team Championship for the first time in 20 years at Western Gailes in Scotland, winning his singles 5 and 4.

Last year was his best year ever, when he captured the West and North of Ireland Championships, the prestigious Sherry Cup and the Mullingar Scratch Cup ( by eight shots) before helping Ireland to victory in the European Amateur Team Championships and the Home Internationals.

Interestingly, he also made a run for the East of Ireland title at the scene of his Irish Open victory. Bidding to emulate 1996 champion Noel Fox and bridge a 10-stroke deficit on the leader over the final 36 holes, the Esker Hills star took advantage of calm early conditions to haul himself back to level par with brilliant third round 67 that could have been even better had it not been for a closing bogey six. As eventual champion Eoin Arthurs was preparing to begin his third round, Lowry raced to the turn in four under par to get within a shot of his lead.

But the Irish No 1 bogeyed the 13th and then blasted an ambitious three-wood out of bounds at the 18th to close with a disastrous triple bogey eight for a 72, smashing the offending club in anger before apologising profusely.

This season he was runner up when he defended the West and has finished third in the Lytham Trophy and fifth in the Irish Amateur Open at Royal Dublin. And the plus five handicapper attributes his improvement in recent seasons to the work he has gone with the GUI’s National Coach Neil Manchip.

“I love what he does,” Lowry said at Baltray. “He is very good at all sides of it. I think my putting has improved. I hole more putts now and I am more solid inside 10 feet. It is all thanks to Neil.”

Yesterday, he showed he has all the shots as well as the mental game to triumph at the highest level. There was no scorecard to sign this time as Lowry painted the most surreal piece of golfing art with the clubs that will serve as the tools of his trade for years to come.

Frustrated that he’s still winless after 236 tour starts, Murphy lives just down the road from the course and confessed that he’s frustrated that he hasn’t joined the Irish tour winning bandwagon.

Gary Murphy wants to join pal Damien McGrane in the winner's circle.

He said: “I’ve been on tour for nine years now and it’s a long time, especially with all the Irish guys winning in the last year or so.

“We have more tour players winning than France and it’s frustrating that I haven’t joined them as well. There is nothing you can do about it only keep on trying and see what happens.”

Now 36, top ball-striker Murphy is regarded as a serial underachiever by the likes of Darren Clarke, who reckons he has the talent to challenge for titles on a regular basis.

But the former Irish Close champion has been battling at the other end of the scale in recent years and needed some big finishes to keep his tour card.

Last year he racked up the best finish of his European Tour career when he tied for third place in the Irish Open at Adare Manor.

But he’s hoping to push his career to a new level by becoming Mr Consistency and hoping his experience will soon start to pay off.

He said: “You want to win tournaments and you want to be in a position every week to try and do that and that’s something I need to improve on.

“I probably feel like I should be a lot higher up the Order of Merit than I have been over the years and it’s a work in progress. Maybe I’ll be better in my later years that I was in my early years.

“I’ve been guilty in the past of playing too much and turning up at tournaments not really ready to compete, but kind of playing because you are stressing about keeping your card.

“If you look at the top players, they play a lot less than the guys at the other end. That’s probably to do with the seven figures in their bank account as well!”

Murphy lives just a few hundred yards from the first tee and but knows he’ll always be considered a “blow-in” despite the fact that he married local girl Elaine Kelly in 2003.

He joked: “It’s great for me. I only live around the corner, so it’s a lot better than going to China and the money is better. I’ve got a little more confidence than I had coming into the Irish Open last year as well.

“I’ve lived in Baltray for eight years and met my wife here when the Irish PGA was here in 2000. But I’ll always been considered a Kilkenny man even if I win 10 majors.”

Murphy doesn’t want gale force winds on a course he loves and reckons there could be a birdie bonanza this week if the wind fails to blow.

He said: “If it’s benign out there I would not be surprised to see someone go mad. But there is a two or three club wind blowing now so the course will probably hold up.”

But the two-time major winner, 43, is hoping to continue his hot run of form and claw his way back from the doldrums to become a force again.

John Daly is back in Ireland

With a little Irish luck he’s hoping he can recapture the kind of form that saw him lift the Open title at St Andrews in 1995 and finish a brilliant second in last week’s Italian Open.

Looking forward to the links challenge, he said: “I love it. It’s so different from target golf. Imagination plays such a big part on a links course.

“Last week in Italy, if I didn’t make a birdie on certain holes, I was going to lose a shot to the field. But here, with weather like this, you walk off sometimes with a bogey and you’re happy.”

Daly has grabbed yards of publicity in recent weeks by arriving in Europe with 20 pairs outrageous slacks designed by Loudmouth Golf.

Wearing a pair of bright orange checked pants, he said: “I could sleep in them as pyjamas, wake up, play golf in them, put on an orange sport coat and go to dinner.”

But he’s more interested in proving that he’s not all mouth and trousers and hopes to hit the headlines for his golf rather than his wardrobe.

He said: “I love to play the game and I’m very competitive and that’s what keeps me going. I don’t know if this is the last chance or what but I feel like I’m getting up there in age and I’ve got a lot of good play in me yet.”

He’s already up to 79th in the Race to Dubai and with little opportunity of keeping his card on the PGA Tour this year, he’s almost certain to play more in Europe.

And a win at Baltray, where the winner will pocket €500,000, would catapult him into the top ten in the money list.

Bracing himself for a massive test on a course were 25 mph east winds have left him scratching his head about how to tackle the course, he said: “I’m still not comfortable off the tee here and that concerns me a little bit.

“There are seven or eight holes out there where I stand on the tee and I look at them and I don’t have a clue what to hit off the tee when the wind is blowing like this.

“It’s about patience as well because you are going to get some bad bounces and some good bounces. But it is also about avoiding the bunkers because you have got to chip out of them just like at the British Open.”

Aussie Brett Rumford won with a 14 under par total when the Irish Open first visited Baltray in 2004.

But Daly said: “If the weather is going to be like this I’ll take even par in a heartbeat.”

Famous for his party lifestyle and addictions to drink and gambling, he went fishing at Clogherhead with some Baltray members last night and promised to stay away from the Guinness.

The American ace has slimmed down from 20 stone to just 16 thanks to stomach surgery and plans to lose a lot more weight over the next few months.

But that means he won’t be trying Ireland’s most famous export, insisting: “You won’t see me drinking a Guinness this week. One, my lap band won’t allow it. And two, when you drink a beer in the States you can drink 12 or 13 and get a little buzz. Here it just takes one because it’s so strong.”

The Scot got wanted three picks instead of two and got the decision he wanted after a marathon three-hour meeting of the Tournament Players Committee at Irish Open venue Baltray.

Colin Montgomerie is strapped in for the Ryder Cup

Five players will still qualify from the European Points List but Montgomerie believes he will have a stronger side to take on Corey Pavin’s United States 12-man team with three wild cards instead of two.

Montgomerie said: “We want to have the strongest team possible and that’s what we are trying to achieve and hopefully we have put one foot towards that tonight.

“I am leaving the meeting delighted that I have one more option. It is a stronger hand picked team but it is a stronger tour as well.

“This European Tour is gaining in strength in strength all the time and we have stronger players in depth than ever before but I am leaving this meeting very confident and very happy that I have got what I was looking for, which was one more option and that is what I have right now.”

Committee member Paul McGinley would not reveal if a vote had been taken.

He said: “It was a great meeting with a lot of strong personalities. There were a lot of current and past Ryder Cup players there and I think the right decision was made.”

The European Tour issued the following statement after the meeting:

“After discussion with Europe’s 2010 Captain, Colin Montgomerie, it was decided that the leading four players from The Ryder Cup World Points List would be joined by the leading five players, not otherwise qualified (having selected the four players from The Ryder Cup World Points List) from The Ryder Cup European Points List in automatically qualifying for Europe’s 2010 Ryder Cup Team at the end of the qualification period.

“Those nine players will then be joined by three Captain’s Picks to make up the 12-man Team to take on the USA over The Twenty Ten Course at The Celtic Manor Resort, City of Newport, Wales, from October 1-3, 2010.”

But the lure of European golf is not the only home comfort the Holywood hotshot has on his mind as he heads to Baltray for what he hopes will be a birdie bonanza.

With a move to the PGA Tour firmly knocked on the head for the next few years, McIlroy has splashed out £GB 2.2 million on a new, 13-acre pad at Moneyreagh, just a 20 minute drive south of Belfast.

The future Chez McIlroy?

Excited about the prospect of building a driving range and swing studio that will put him in the same league as Padraig Harrington, he said: “I never thought I’d have made enough money to do something like that. I’d been looking at land for a while and this place came up. It’s perfect.

“It’s got a house that’s only three years old and a gym as well. It’s a beautiful place. It’s even got its own lake and a separate guest house as well, so there’s more than enough room for everyone to come and stay.”

McIlroy bought himself a five-bedroom house near his family home shortly after he turned professional in 2007.

But he has rocketed up the world rankings since then, winning the Dubai Desert Classic and racking up more than €2.5 million in tournament earnings in just 20 months as a professional.

He has also signed sponsorship deals with Dubai based Jumeriah Hotels, equipment giants Titleist, shoemakers Footjoy, construction company Bennett and financial gurus FL Partners.

Not only that, he represents the luxury Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh as its touring professional and will play a $300,000 exhibition match against Harrington – dubbed the Duel on the Lough – on July 22.

He has a house there too, as well as the use of a villa in Dubai, but his plan is to keep his feet on the ground and stay close to his Ulster roots for the next few years before taking on the PGA Tour.

Explaining his plans for his dream home he said: “It’s still in the process. But we have agreed everything and it will be a done deal on July 31 and hopefully it will be ready by next spring.

“It’s 13 acres, there’s already a house on five acres and then there’s two four acre paddocks and one of the paddocks is perfect.

“It’s quite narrow but it’s quite long, so you could clear a few trees out and make a perfect range.”

Harrington spent a fortune on an indoor golf room and a floodlit outdoor practice ground with multiple greens he calls “Elysian Fields” at his palatial Rathmichael home in south Dublin.

McIlroy visited the triple major champion there shortly after turning pro but he has plans for a more modest but equally impressive facility that could soon be dubbed “Rory’s Range.”

He explained: “I’ve got enough room to do everything. I’ve space for a separate short game facility and a 280-yard driving range. Basically everything.

“I’m actually going to use the guys that built Lough Erne to build the range. They are going to come and have a look at what I have and will design a place for me. So I don’t think it’ll cost astronomical prices.

“As for the house where I currently live, I’m not sure. The way the current market is, I’ll probably keep it for a while until it comes back again.

“The great thing about this place is that there’s more than enough room to bring a lot of people over.

“I mean it’s perfect and the completion date is July 31 and we’ll try and get everything underway. Hopefully it will be ready by next spring.”

McIlroy’s focussed on Europe right now and the 3 Irish Open is the second event in a four tournament run that will take him to Wentworth for next week’s BMW PGA Championship and the European Open at the London Club.

After missing the cut by seven shots in the Players Championship at Sawgrass, he’s seen enough of the US for the moment and will only return for the Majors and World Golf Championships this season.

Speaking in Florida, he said: “I don’t see myself playing over here full time. I don’t see myself taking my card here, to be honest. I wouldn’t mind playing my World Golf Championships and my Majors over here and that’s it. I feel more comfortable in Europe.

“If I can play 15 events in Europe and then add in the World Championships and Majors, that’s more than enough. Play a couple in Asia in the winter months and that’d be fine.”

McIlroy experience a massive high at the Masters but found the atmosphere flat in Hilton Head the following week and was stuck at the back of the field at Sawgrass and failed to perform.

“I just didn’t have an atmosphere or a buzz to go out and really try. But it will be different at Baltray I’m looking forward to playing in front of thousands of people and the course should be set up for scoring.”

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