Lowry teams up with Poulter seeking elusive win

Shane Lowry celebrates his hole in one on the 17th in the Players at TPC Sawgrass with Ian Poulter’s caddie

SHANE LOWRY is looking to end his run of near misses when he teams up with Ian Poulter in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The Ryder Cup teammates form one of the high profile partnerships at TPC Louisiana, where Australians Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith defend.

But while Lowry has finished tied third in the Masters and the RBC Heritage in his last two starts and recorded seven top 13s in his last nine, his biggest challenge could come from Séamus Power and Graeme McDowell.

Power has finished tied 10th and tied fifth with Canadian David Hearn on his last two visits to New Orleans, while McDowell has never finished outside the top 23 in an event featuring star duos Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, Sergio Garcia and Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay and world No 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler with Ryan Palmer.

In Europe, Jonny Caldwell, Cormac Sharvin and Niall Kearney tee it up in ISPS Handa Championship at Infinitum near Tarragona in Spain while on the LPGA Leona Maguire and in-form Stephanie Meadow play the  DIO Implant LA Open at Wilshire Country Club.

“It is nice to see, she’s been playing great,” Maguire said of Meadow. “We’ve been playing a lot actually, playing 9 holes most Tuesdays or Wednesdays, there’s only two of us out here and you want to see as many Irish people doing as well as possible.”