Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry win Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Rory McIlroy lands his first title of the PGA Tour season alongside his good friend Shane Lowry in the Zurich Classic team event.
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry celebrated their first wins of the PGA Tour season following victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
McIlroy and Lowry birdied the par-5 18th to card a 68 and force extra holes with Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer, who set the clubhouse target of 25-under par much earlier in the day after a joint-record foursomes 63.
McIlroy, 34, and Lowry, 37, were making their first appearance together in the Zurich Classic.
The Northern Irishman and Irishman reportedly made the call over a 'drunken lunch' at Christimas.
Lowry and McIlroy made a sluggish start to the final round and quickly found themselves five shots off the pace thru five holes.
But a birdie from McIlroy on the 6th soon got them going in the right direction and they turned in 1-under 35.
Two birdies followed on 10 and 11 to haul them to within a shot of the lead, and then McIlroy drained a beautiful birdie putt from 15 feet on the par-4 16th to move them into a tie for the lead.
A bogey resulted on the daunting par-3 17th after an errant tee shot from Lowry, but the duo bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 18th after McIlroy played a brilliant pitch shot to three feet.
Back up the 18th for the first extra hole, and McIlroy and Lowry sealed the deal with a par.
Trainer had a putt from six feet to force a second extra hole but he missed on the right.
The winning moment for @McIlroyRory and @ShaneLowryGolf 🏆 pic.twitter.com/IHQLJrYnP9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 28, 2024
"It feels absolutely amazing," said McIlroy.
"We've had an awesome week in New Orleans, the crowd has been amazing. To have so much fun while doing it, it's just a bonus to win it.
"I also could not be happier to have this man alongside me to win it."
Lowry said: "We both felt like we could do with a jump up the FedEx Cup so we said let's go and get 400 points each and that's what we've managed to do. I feel a bit bad because Rory carried me a lot of the way but I don't mind!"
McIlroy is now up to 15th in the FedEx Cup, with Lowry up to 12th.
The win marks McIlroy's 25th win on the PGA Tour and his first on the circuit since the Genesis Scottish Open in July 2023.
It's also his second victory of the season following a successful title defence at the Dubai Desert Classic in January.
For Lowry, it brings up a hat-trick of wins on the PGA Tour and his first since etching his name on the famous Claret Jug at the 2019 Open Championship.
McIlroy and Lowry have confirmed they intend to come back and defend their title in 2025.
Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard could only make par on the 18th and they missed out on the playoff by one shot in solo third on 24-under par.
Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn had held the advantage for much of the final round but they were left to rue a disastrous double-bogey five on the tricky par-3 17th and they finished two shots back in T4 on 23-under par.
Tournament favourites Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele found themselves in contention heading into the weekend but the 2022 champions had a Saturday foursomes and Sunday fourballs to forget, finishing on 18-under par and outside the top 20.
Zurich Classic Final Leaderboard
-25 R McIlroy / S Lowry*, C Ramey / M Trainer
-24 R Brehm / M Hubbard
-23 G Higgo / R Fox, N Echavarria / M Greyserman, S Stevens / P Barjon, Z Blair / P Fishburn
* R McIlroy / S Lowry win at first extra hole
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