Prior to the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, partners Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry discuss how they decided to partner up for the tournament, why golf at the Olympics is special and how the pair plans on supporting each other throughout the upcoming week.
SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh
The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana. This is the only two-man team event on the PGA TOUR schedule. Rory McIlroy makes his tournament debut alongside good friend, Ryder Cup teammate and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry. McIlroy is looking to build some momentum this season, as he has posted only one top-15 thus far (third at the Valero Texas Open). Lowry recently went T4-3rd-T19 on the Florida Swing. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele play together this week in an attempt to claim the title back after their victory in 2022. Cantlay played well for a T3 finish last week at the RBC Heritage, while Schauffele’s T2 at THE PLAYERS Championship and 8th place finish at the Masters will give him confidence. The pair claimed T4 in defense of their title last year. Davis Riley and Nick Hardy will defend their 2023 title this week. No team has ever gone back-to-back at this event. Others to look out for are Sahith Theegala and Will Zalatoris, as well as three sets of brothers including Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick, Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard and Parker and Pierceson Coody.
Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the PGA TOUR. Here you can find everything you need to stay up to date with the world’s foremost golf tour. Check in for highlights from every tournament along with player profiles, exclusive series, swing analysis and all the greatest shots and amazing moments.
Check out https://www.pgatour.com for complete coverage along with all the latest news, scoring, and stats!
Follow the PGA TOUR:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/pgatour/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PGATour
X: https://twitter.com/PGATOUR
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@pgatour
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/pgatour
Watch exclusive broadcasts – https://www.pgatour.com/live
PGA TOUR Superstore – http://www.pgatoursuperstore.com
all right everyone we’ll go ahead and
get started we’d like to welcome Rory
mroy and Shane Lowry to the media center
here at the Zur classic of New Orleans
uh guys if we could just get some
opening comments on on being paired up
together this week obviously Rory your
first time here and and Shane making
your your fifth appearance um but just
some opening thoughts on on being in New
Orleans yeah it’s good to be here
um it’s uh you know I I I was saying it
to one of our prom Partners out there
today it’s you know professional golf
and year in year out it’s you know it’s
a it’s a bit of a grind sometimes when
on your own a lot so it’s nice to have
something different this week and
especially be here with a a really good
friend and you know enjoy New Orleans
and um you know hopefully go and play
some good golf and give ourselves a
chance to win on
Sunday yeah um see sentiments uh
obviously this is my first time here in
New Orleans and uh yeah I’m I’m excited
to be here uh it’s a tournament that
I’ve watched on TV for for quite a few
years especially since they’ve went to
the team format and um you know Sheen
and I have played in a couple of Ridder
Cup teams together and uh you know we
thought it would be fun to to team up
together again and and something like
this and you know as Sheen said like
this is I don’t know my 17th year as a
professional golfer and to be able to do
still do things for the first time like
playing this event and and experience
something like this is is pretty cool
and um yeah just really excited to to
spend the week with shenen and you know
hopefully I don’t put him in too many
bad spots and and we can play some good
golf and then just just quickly how this
how this partnership came came together
when you guys first started talking
about it I know we discussed a little
bit but it was yeah I um I was the one
that that mentioned it
um I I basically I didn’t want to ask
Rory because I didn’t think that he
would want to come and play um and then
he was the one that said it to me and I
was like absolutely um so uh yeah we
talked about it I remember you know Rory
talked about the Wednesday after rer cup
we had a nice few drinks together we
talked about it that day and then he
sent me a text Christmas time and yeah
it was a nice little Christmas present
for me to get so uh yeah happy to be
here with him you know
um I I like playing golf from the middle
of the Fairway so I’m looking forward to
this week no pressure all right thanks
guys we’ll open up the questions if you
have a question just raise your hand
we’ll get a mic over to you we’ll just
start here with
Brody Roy are you able to confirm
whether or not you a potential return to
the policy
board uh not I of yet no are we able to
speak in
hypotheticals uh maybe I guess when you
go back to a year ago or 8 months ago
when you decided to step away you know
you talked about wanting to focus more
on inside the ropes and things like that
I guess what has changed in the last
eight months and kind of how do you look
back now on that decision to walk away
and why you know it might be interesting
now uh I think I can be helpful um I
don’t think there’s been much progress
made in the last eight months and I was
hopeful that there would be and you know
you know I I think I I I could be
helpful to the process but only
um only if if if people want me involved
I guess so you know when Webb um you
know and I talked and he he talked about
potentially um you know coming off the
board I said look if it was something
that other people wanted I would I would
gladly take that that seat and that was
the conversation that we had
um but yeah I you know I think that’s
the whole reason I feel like I can be
helpful I I feel like I you know I care
a lot and I have some pretty good
experience and and good connections um
within the game and and sort of Around
The Wider sort of ecosystem and
everything that’s going on so um you
know but at the end of the day it’s not
not quite up to me to just come back on
the board there’s a process that has to
be followed and um but I’m I’m willing
to do it if that if that’s what uh if
that’s what people um want I guess and
unification has been your your big thing
the last few months if hypothetically
you were back is is that something you
would then even have a stronger stance
on on the board absolutely yeah yeah I
think it’s the it’s the only way forward
for the for the for the game of golf I
mean
you’ve you’ve you know said before I
think that maybe you didn’t always see
eye to eye with some people before on
matters how do you manage that I guess
if if you’re back in terms of trying to
kind of steer things a certain way uh
compromise um but also you know try to
articulate your points as as well as you
can and and try to
um you know help people see the benefits
of of what unification could do for the
game and and what it could do for this
tour in in particular and um we
obviously realize the game is not
unified right now for a reason and you
know there’s still you know some hard
feelings and and things that that need
to to be addressed but I think at this
point um you know for the good of the
game we all need to put those feelings
aside and all move forward together
right d go
ahead did you feel almost AAL sense of
Rel or a burden when you originally left
you talked about not being able to sort
of spend or split your time with the
demands of that job and then also trying
to be the best you can possibly
be I feel you know yes and no I would
say that i’ I’ve played some of my best
golf while being a a PJ tour board
member so I don’t think it really
hindered me but um it was maybe just
taken away some time from me pursuing
things or spending time doing things
that I wanted to do at home and you know
having to hop on calls you know two
three times a week and just the whole
you know the the whole thing started to
to take a toll as it as it has on a lot
of the players right like we we’re
golfers at the end of the day we don’t
need to be trying to run a$1 15 billion
business we need to go out there and
play golf and let the the business
people do the business things on the
matters of golf Shane I saw that you and
Rory were out in the practice area
yesterday playing together hitting
practice shots and things like that
around how often in a tournament other
than this would you guys do that is that
something that just is unique to this
venue or is is that something that you
guys might ever do outside of say Ryder
Cup well it just kind of happened
yesterday we were going to go out and
play the course but the course was quite
busy and we didn’t want to spend too
long doing that so we said we do some
chipping around the chipping green yeah
I mean I used to do it historically for
years I’ve done it with pck Harrington
over the years but he’s you know a lot
of time in Champions tour now you know
we don’t typically do it Rory Rory likes
to play and practice early in the
mornings and I don’t so uh we we we
don’t really play that many practice
rounds together you know throughout the
year we play a few but not that many and
um so yeah it just kind of happened
yesterday and it’s it’s good fun and I
think it’s a good way to practice I
think for kids kids if they want to
practice get a friend or you know a
person anybody wants to practice get a a
person to play against and go and Chip
around the green because I think that’s
a good way to get better yeah you pass
Tok real quick then we’ll get r with
this being your first trip to New
Orleans what is your inial take and then
Shane did you kind of prep him for what
this week’s Vibe was
about uh no you didn’t really prep me I
guess uh yeah so we got in
yesterday uh sort of around midday we
came straight here uh so we didn’t
really I you know I didn’t get a sense
really of the city last night got to the
hotel and um didn’t really do much uh
but we’ve got some got some good
restaurant reservations the next few
nights and sort of going to hit all the
the sort of Staples that that you should
and you know I’ll maybe Venture down to
Bourbon Street at some point and um
spend half an hour and and sort of say
I’ve been there and I’ve got the t-shirt
and then and move on I don’t think I
want to spend too much time down there
but uh get some beats yeah but uh yeah
I’m I’m I’m excited to be in a in a new
place um you know as I said before we
spend our whole lives going back to the
C cities the C golf courses and the same
routines so to do something a little
different is is
nice all right just go right here in the
front I wanted to uh ask about oh yeah
go go sorry golf at the Olympics I know
growing up obviously you all never had
that opportunity just how great was it
to to take part a little different
because of Co but potentially the
excitement of doing it for real this
year having it as an Olympic sport and
looking forward to that this summer yeah
yeah um obviously growing up growing up
playing golf you never dreamed of been
an Olympic champion so when golf came in
the Olympics it was kind of a strange
kind of feeling to have but doing the
last Olympics we Rory together uh in
Japan all all be it was a CO Olympic so
it was a little bit different um you
know we both we both realize what it
what it meant to go out and try and win
an Olympic medal for your country and I
think uh you know that’s something that
excites me and excites both of us to go
back to Paris this year and and try and
do that I think you know uh you know for
me personally anyway I know to go back
to Ireland with an Olympic medal would
be like a dream so um yeah something
that is high high on my bucket list for
this
year yeah um you know same thing I was
in a I was in a seven-way playoff in
Tokyo for for a bronze medal and I’ve
never tried so hard to finish third in
my life so um yeah look we we we didn’t
grow up dreaming of winning an Olympic
medal because that just wasn’t something
that was on our radar you know major
championships have always been what you
know has been the greatest achievement
in the game of golf but once you’re
there and you get into that Olympic
Spirit um you know it really you know it
it sort of you know I don’t know that
something happens inside of you and you
know you really you really get a sense
for what it means to so many people and
you know as Shan said um you know even
to just be able to call yourself an
Olympian but then to if you were able to
to win a medal that would be you know
incredibly
special Rory and I I guess you’re not
too happy about the way the early part
of the season has gone and after the
meat grinder of the last two and a half
weeks is this you said no pressure is
this a week where you could just relax
and kind of let things maybe fix some
things yeah um um yeah a little bit I
don’t think I don’t think there’s things
that need to be fixed but I think a week
like this
to yeah to to sort of relax and play
Under
uh yeah not you know maybe not the the
amount of pressure or the stress that
that we’ve both been under the last
couple of weeks um I think is a is a
nice thing so and it’s it’s nice to be
able to rely on a teammate every now and
again and um you know bail you out of
trouble or or know that you know you
don’t have to you know play perfect golf
cuz you’ve got someone um right there
beside you so yeah it’s a it’s a nice
week for that you know there’s still a
lot of FedEx Cup points on offer and you
know we we know if we have a good week
this week you know that’ll get us both
up the you know the FedEx Cup list and
and and put us in a really good spot
going into the into the
summer question right hey hey there um R
Martel with ap so Rory you mentioned you
thought it would be fun to play here and
you mentioned the novelty aspect is
there some practical
professional application too in terms of
maybe you guys will be teammates again
in the future or just you know more team
golf I think I think it’s just
um I just thought it would be fun to do
you know going and playing here with a
friend and um enjoying a week in New
Orleans and going and eat some good food
at night and try to play some good golf
during the day I thought it’ be a fun
week okay ready finish up here um are we
allowed to know any of the
reservations um I don’t know them I I
just go where I’m told me I just go
where I’m told this week and I just do
what I’m told so Ro is the captain team
captain uh and then for both of you um
you know report came out today that the
equity numbers uh might be released to
you guys today I guess the question is
what’s enough you know what what’s a
number that will make you guys feel
validated for staying you know
considering the live
payouts I think the one thing we’ve
learned in Gulf over the last two years
is there’s never enough
Rory just curious um had you been close
to coming here before or playing in this
tournament before yeah a few people have
asked me over the years
um Bubba Watson hunted me for years to
come play this with him and I cly
declined every time not cuz I don’t like
L’s probably like number one on people’s
list to come play her with when you see
you know when you’re out there playing
with them um but no I just it was never
part of you know I guess it never lined
up with with my schedule and just wasn’t
and then you know what this is you know
this is my fourth week in a row and it’s
not you know it’s not as if I haven’t
played four weeks in a row before um but
for a fourth tournament in a row
something like this that is a little
more relaxed not as not as much pressure
um you know I thought it would be a good
thing to do right just one last one here
MK Shane you just mentioned it he’s on a
lot of guys list to play as a team so
why are you really excited that he
picked
you why am I excited that he pick me he
obviously thinks I’m I’m good enough to
be a teammate and come over here and
compete with I think you know I think
we’re good for each other I think we’ll
be good for each other on the course um
we’ll enjoy doing it which is a big part
of it as well like you know it’s um
whatever about getting out there and
competing it’s you know you want to
enjoy it as well but at the end of the
day then when it comes to we are
competitors and I think we’re two very
competitive people and when we get the
first te on Thursday we’re there for one
reason
and yes it’ll be to enjoy it but it’ll
be to give ourselves a chance to win a
tournament all right gentlemen thank you
for the time best of luck this week
thank you thanks for watching the PJ
Tour on YouTube to watch more click here
and to subscribe click here
4 Comments
Hon the lads 🇮🇪
Rory should retire, his chipmunk looking island arse.
😂 hope to win
Jay Monahan is a slime ball