Shane Lowry is happy to make enemies for 18 holes this week with potential Ryder Cup team-mates.
Lowry and fellow Irishman Seamus Power are members of the GB&I team competing against Continental Europe in the Hero Cup.
The tournament will see all 20 players tee it up in all four sessions, with two foursomes sessions taking place on Saturday and the final ten singles matches concluding the event on Sunday.
READ MORE: Shane Lowry's end of year review: on LIV, on Ryder Cup hopes and the fire within
The three-day matchplay tournament will take place under the watchful eye of Team Europe captain Luke Donald and GB&I skipper Tommy Fleetwood has made a statement of intent by putting himself and Lowry in the first match out against Alex Noren and Thomas Pieters.
Lowry, who made his Ryder Cup debut at Whistling Straits, is ready to show why he wants to be one of Europe's top dogs in Rome com September.
“I'm probably one of the most competitive people you'll meet, so I'm OK with it, I'll make enemies for 18 holes, no problem," said the Clara man.
"We're all going to be out there trying to beat each other up a little bit and be very competitive against each other. We all want to win. We are all competitive players.
“We all want this a lot. Even though there's a lot of Ryder Cup chat this week, I feel like as a team we really want to win this week and I'm looking forward to being part of the GB&I Team and looking forward to winning the tournament.”
The line-up for the opening session of fourball matches were confirmed at a pairings ceremony at Abu Dhabi Golf Club and both teams have opted for experience in the first match of the inaugural event.
Fleetwood said: “We’ve loaded up all the way through, really. We have a great team but there are no easy matches.
"That’s a great team as well (Noren and Pieters) but I feel very confident in my guys, like we all do. It’s great to see the pairings finally out and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen.
“I concentrated on our guys but it’s worked out really well. I think the matches look great.”
The only fourballs session of the week will see Power go out in the fifth and final match of the day alongside Scotland's Robert MacIntyre - they take on Austria’s Sepp Straka and Poland’s Adrian Meronk, who won the Horizon Irish Open in 2022.
Belgium’s Thomas Detry and Frenchman Antoine Rozner represent Continental Europe in the second match of the day, with English duo Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith their opponents.
Match Three pits France’s Victor Perez and three-time DP World Tour winner Guido Migliozzi against another all-English pair in Callum Shinkwin and Matt Wallace, before Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari teams up with Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard against Scot Ewen Ferguson and Richard Mansell, of England.
The pairings for the opening foursomes session on day two will be announced following the conclusion of Friday’s play.
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