Shane Lowry defended his choice to play in the Asian Tour event next month, telling reporters, “I’m not a politician,” in what is sure to be a theme over the next four weeks leading up to the Saudi International.
Lowry was asked about a recent editorial in the Washington Post that suggested players who participate in the Saudi International are “accepting blood money” during a conference call promoting the event.
“I’m excited to go there.” On Tuesday, Lowry said, “I’m delighted to earn my living going there and playing excellent golf and hopefully winning a tournament.” “I suppose as a golfer, I’m not a politician, so I’ll let everyone else deal with that and go about my business.”
On the matter, Tyrrell Hatton, who was present on the conference call, deferred to Lowry. He answered, “I have nothing to add.”
Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Phil Mickelson are among the players competing in the Saudi International. For the Saudi event, nearly two dozen Tour members requested competing-event releases.
Lowry, like the majority of players, acknowledged that when the Saudi International was sanctioned by the DP World Tour in 2019, he signed a three-year deal to compete in 2019. (formerly the European Tour). The PGA Tour and the DP World Tour both gave him competing-event releases to compete in the event, according to the Irishman.
The Tour granted those releases on the condition that they add the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to their itineraries in the future, which will be held the same week as the Saudi International.
