The PGA Tour returns to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic, the tour’s only team event.
Despite an eventful round from Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, the Irish duo came out on top by defeating Martin Trainor and Chad Ramey in a play-off.
This is McIlroy’s 25th win on the PGA Tour. Lowry achieved the record for the third time and first since winning the British Open in 2019. But it was the former who did most of the heavy lifting.
“Let’s go get the 400.” [FedEx Cup] points each. That’s what we’ve been doing and Rory has been taking us all the way, so it almost felt a little bad to take them,” Lowry said with a smile after the win.
About three hours before all teams were to play the 72nd hole, Trainor and Ramey entered the clubhouse at 25 under. They planned to play virtually the entire round, and many pairs were already at or just below that number.
However, windy conditions made it very difficult to score as no one finished any lower.
McIlroy and Lowry bogeyed the 17th hole, dropping them one stroke off the pace. But the Northern Irishman made up for it on the 18th. great chips. This resulted in a short birdie putt, and Lowry sank it to advance to the playoff.
Ramey and Trainor showed signs of rust in the playoffs. Two hours and 54 minutes after the round ended, Trainor’s tee shot missed the left side of the fairway. Ramey hit a clean lie in front of the fairway bunker, but his 3-wood missed wide to the left of the green.
Meanwhile, McIlroy’s tee shot hit the fairway. Lowry’s approach fell just short of his reach and ended up in the greenside bunker. But they still remained in decent condition.
Trainer chunked the third shot and Ramey chipped up near the hole and managed to leave a 5-foot par.
McIlroy hit a decent bunker shot, leaving his fellow Irishman with a 10-foot victory. But like most of this week, Lowry’s putter missed. He missed the putt just above the hole and it looked like a huge opportunity was missed.
But shortly after, the trainer inexplicably missed a short par putt, sealing the victory for McIlroy and Lowry.
“It’s been amazing. We’ve had a great week here in New Orleans. The crowds this past week have been amazing. We’ve had so much fun with the support we’ve had locally. , it’s been a great week and obviously getting the win at the end feels like just a bonus,” McIlroy said.
“But it couldn’t be better to have this guy with me to win together on the PGA Tour.”
It probably wasn’t the way they had envisioned, but a win is a win no matter the outcome.
This is McIlroy’s first time playing in this tournament. He had such a good time and received such a warm welcome that he was already telling everyone about his future plans.
“I think I’ll come back and defend next year.”
In a much-needed boost, Lowry and McIlroy moved to 12th and 15th, respectively, on the FedEx Cup points list with the win.
Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social media platforms.
