Team MciLowry ready to take on Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have been close since they were kids, representing Ireland at the 2007 European Amateur Team Championships. They played for Europe as it reclaimed the Ryder Cup in Rome last fall, and when McIlroy was on the verge of becoming a “car park scrapper” at Marco Simone, as one scribe put it, Lowry was there to hold him back.

You would be hard-pressed to find two closer teammates at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and keep in mind this is a field that features two sets of twins.

“We’ve got quite a bit of shared history,” McIlroy told PGATOUR.COM on Wednesday. Lowry was sitting next to him as they spoke about their partnership for a tournament that NOLA first-timer McIlroy, in his 17th year as a pro, anticipated would be a welcome addition to his schedule.

They cracked up laughing at the mention of their only other match as a duo, a 4-and-3 loss to Tony Finau and Harris English at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits.

“I’d like to think I’m playing better now than I was then,” McIlroy said.

Added Lowry, who is making his fifth start in New Orleans, “We feed off each other well. I like to think we’re good for each other on and off the course.”

Who among them would be considered the jokester, and who would be the serious one?

McIlroy: “It’s probably not the answer that people would expect.”

Lowry: “I’m probably more intense when it comes to playing tournament golf.”

McIlroy: “Yeah, yeah.”

They had flown in around midday Tuesday, and in lieu of a practice round they played some chipping games together at TPC Louisiana, as kids will do. Granted, each is in his mid-thirties, with wives and kids of their own, careers and goals, insurance policies and pension plans. They’re not the same carefree teenagers who played for Ireland in ’07.

And yet …

“We got some good restaurant reservations the next few nights,” McIlroy said in their press conference earlier in the day. Naturally, someone asked: Like which restaurants?

“I don't know them,” Lowry said. “I just go where I'm told … Rory is the team captain.”

They would like to do well. Neither is off to a strong start this season, and they spoke of playing to win and racking up FedExCup points to improve their positions going into the summer.

Whatever happens, they are looking forward to a fun week, which would be of a piece with how this team was formed in the first place, as the byproduct of a boozy lunch at McIlroy’s house the week after the Ryder Cup last fall. McIlroy was the first one to broach the idea.

“We talked about it that day,” Lowry said, “and then he sent me a text around Christmastime, and it was a nice little Christmas present for me to get.”

McIlroy divulged that he’d previously had other suitors, specifically Bubba Watson, who had tried to get him to buddy up in New Orleans, but it never fit his schedule. And Lowry allowed that he never would have been the one to ask, certain as he was that McIlroy would say no.

But now they’re here – the Irish in New Orleans. Their wives are close, too, everyone living near each other in South Florida. So are their kids, two of whom have playdates together. Lowry has said he considers himself privileged to have such a friendship with McIlroy, one of the game’s all-time greats, and that affection goes both ways.

“Shane's been one of my biggest advocates,” McIlroy told the Irish Independent last fall. “He's a great person to be around, and a really good influence on me. There’s parts of (Lowry) that I really love; I see how he lives his life; I see how he is with his girls, and the relationships he has with the people from home that are still close to him.

“He enjoys his life and everything he's worked for,” the three-time FedExCup champion added, “and I think spending time with him makes me a better version of myself.”

Perhaps taking a page from Lowry, McIlroy said Wednesday that he, too, would be enjoying his life, partaking of all New Orleans has to offer this week, even if only in moderation.

“I'll maybe venture down to Bourbon Street at some point,” McIlroy said, “and spend half an hour and say I've been there and I've got the T-shirt and then move on.”

Been there. Got the T-shirt. With any luck, these friends will leave NOLA with more than that.