Shane Lowry on LIV Golf and BMW PGA: "I don't care how much money I won"

Shane Lowry didn't know he had won over $1 million at the BMW PGA Championship and reasserted that he doesn't play golf for money.

Speaking to the No Laying Up podcast, Lowry also said that a move to the LIV Golf Series has never been on the table with trophies at the centre of his thoughts.

The Irishman won the DP World Tour's flagship event at Wentworth last week which was his first win since The Open Championship in 2019. It was his sixth win on the Tour which was under intense focus with a number of LIV Golf players competing as well.

Lowry described his victory on the West Course as "one for the good guys." Ahead of the tournament in Surrey, he admitted he couldn't stand seeing players from the Saudi-backed series tee it up.

He shared the thoughts of Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel in that certain players shouldn't have participated, with Horschel naming outright fourth-place finisher Talor Gooch as one.

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"I have always said I don't play the game for money. I never have, I feel like that's why I didn't even entertain it, to be honest," Lowry said.

"I've said to a couple of players that have gone to LIV, 'why do you play the game?' If you play the game for money, maybe you should probably do it. If you play the game for trophies, you shouldn't.

"I stood there on the 18th green on Sunday (at the BMW PGA Championship) and was handed that trophy and it's the who's who of European golf and I'm like, this is incredible, my name gets to go on that.

"I don't care how much money I won. We had a few drinks on Sunday, it was 11 pm, and somebody says, 'how much did you win today?' I'm like, ‘I honestly have no idea’, they were like, ‘no way’.

"That’s why I play the game, as well as that I've got good solid people around me. My wife had a big part, not a big part to play in it because it was never in my head. She said, 'Shane, all that money is not going to make you happy, what's going to make you happy is competing at the highest level'.

"And that's the reason, well not the reason I've never gone, the reason I've not even contemplated it is because I don't think it's good for the game, that's why it's never been a thought process."

Lowry is taking time off in the same week that the DP World Tour hosts the DS Automobiles Italian Open, the PGA Tour begins a new season and the LIV Golf Series reaches its fifth event in Chicago.

The 35-year-old was extremely unfortunate not to add to his haul of two wins on the American circuit earlier this season, coming second at the Honda Classic and tied third at The Masters.