Shane Lowry excited to be part of a European Ryder Cup contingent dominating the halfway leaderboard in the 90th Masters

Shane Lowry is excited to be part of a strong European Ryder Cup contingent dominating the halfway leaderboard in the 90th Masters.

Out in front at Augusta National by a record six-shot margin is Rory McIlroy, the man who will be playing in a ninth Ryder Cup at Adare Manor next September.

Lowry, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, three of McIlroy’s team-mates in wins over the Americans in both Rome and New York in the last biennial bouts, sit joint-fourth.

Add in Tyrrell Hatton in joint-seventh and Luke Donald, who will be captaining Europe for the third match running in County Limerick and bidding to create history by claiming a hat-trick of victories, will be delighted to see some of his key men performing on one of the game’s biggest stages.

“Great,” said Lowry of his lofty position. “Obviously it's a long way to go, but I have a late tee time on Saturday afternoon and that is always a nice place to be in.”

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Asked about the strong European presence on the leaderboard, he replied: “I think it's a coincidence. There's a lot of great European golfers on that leaderboard and a couple of good American ones as well. It's a great leaderboard and it should be an exciting weekend.”

After a rollercoaster ride in his opening round on Thursday, Lowry signed for sa bogey-free three-under-par 69 in the second circuit.

“I played well today,” he declared. “I felt like I did a lot of good things, and my attitude was great.

“So I'm very, very happy. If you gave me this position yesterday morning, I would have taken your hand off. To be kind of in the mix going into the weekend around here is nice, so I'm looking forward to it.”

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