The friction continues to mount in the lead up to the BMW PGA Championship this week at Wentworth Club.

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On Wednesday, Shane Lowry become the next golfer in an ever-growing list of PGA TOUR players to criticize the LIV golfers who are playing in the DP World Tour’s most important event.

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Among other reasons, the Irishman said that he feels that the LIV players are taking the spotlight away from the event and what’s really important at Wentworth.

“I don’t like it that they are here. I think to be honest, the one thing that has really annoyed me over the last few months is how disruptive they are all trying to be. Obviously, they are here for world ranking points somewhat, but they are here to be disruptive, and I don’t like it. To be honest, if I put myself in those guys’ shoes, would I be here this week? No, it’s too uncomfortable for me. It is what it is. Like I said it’s the BMW PGA Championship, the biggest event in Europe and we would be talking about that, and we are not. It’s disappointing.”

Similar to what both Jon Rahm and Billy Horschel have said this week, Lowry did acknowledge that there are a few LIV golfers who have the right to playing this week. He also made it clear that there were others who he believes shouldn’t be there.

“There’s some of the guys I kind of don’t mind them being here given what they have done for the Tour over the years,” said Lowry. “There are certain guys I just can’t stand them being here to be honest.

While there are plenty of players Lowry will attempt to avoid, he is known as an affable person who doesn’t like to be confrontational.

“Anybody that knows me, I don’t like confrontation or any of that stuff. I’ll say hello and do my thing. That’s the way I’ll be. Obviously, the lads, I’ve known them for years and some of them became quite good friends over the last few years. But obviously I haven’t seen them in a long time now, don’t hang out with them anymore. Probably won’t be going out for dinner because we haven’t seen each other. But yeah, there are certain lads that I shake hands with and certain hands I wouldn’t.”

The LIV Golf story isn’t going away anytime soon, especially with the Ryder Cup set to begin next year. As of now, it seems as if the LIV players won’t be eligible to participate, but Lowry believes they wouldn’t be a good fit for the team even if they could play.

“I can’t see how they are going to make the team, they are going to need a pick,” the former Open Champion said. “I think without those guys, we still have a good team. With all due respect to a lot of those guys over at LIV, I think they know themselves and that’s why they went to LIV, their Ryder Cup days are probably over. Obviously, they are lined up as next captains but there’s not too many of them that would have too many Ryder Cups.”

With Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick and Shane Lowry having all made strong statements in opposition to the LIV players this week, we could be in store for some real drama over the weekend if the leaderboard cooperates.

More from the 19th Hole

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• Gary Player blasts Cam Smith’s LIV move and claims another major champ ‘had no money, so he had to go’
• Golfer suspected of cheating in wild disqualification incident at Q-School