Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry won $2.6M team tournament they decided to play after 'drunken lunch
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry will defend their Zurich Classic of New Orleans title this week, and the genesis of their 2024 victory is a "drunken lunch" with
Michael Jordan
to mark Europe's Ryder Cup victory.
McIlroy and Lowry joined forces
at TPC Louisiana 12 months ago and defeated Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer in a playoff to clinch the title and
almost $1.3 million in prize money apiece.
For the close friends, it was
a memorable experience on and off the course,
from being applauded out of a Bourbon Street restaurant the night before the final round to McIlroy
performing a rendition of Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'
' for fans at an after-party following their victory.
The Irish pals
played a pivotal role in Europe's Ryder Cup victory over the United States in Rome six months earlier, and before teeing it up in "The Big Easy," McIlroy revealed it was his idea to propose playing in the tournament after a few glasses of wine.
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McIlroy made the short trip to Lowry's home in Jupiter,
Florida
, to share a vintage bottle of claret and reminisce about a special week at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in October, and it was there that the five-time major champion made his proposal.
'I asked him [to play]. You know it was actually, we had this really drunken lunch after the Ryder Cup last year, and I said after, 'You wanna play the Zurich together?' And we were like, yeah, let's do it," McIlroy told
GOLF.com.
Lowry shared details of that fateful meal in an interview with the
Irish Independent,
revealing that they were joined by Europe's Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and basketball icon – and golf fanatic – Jordan.
'Rory, Luke and MJ sitting around talking about the Ryder Cup,' Lowry laughed. "Not really how I envisioned the celebrations.'
Doubts emerged whether McIlroy would stay true to his commitment to return the Zurich Classic, which begins on Thursday, after the emotional rollercoaster of winning The Masters less than two weeks ago, completing the career grand slam and ending a 10-year major championship drought in the process.
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But Lowry confirmed at last week's RBC Heritage that McIlroy would indeed be back in the Bayou. 'We'll be there. I talked to him [Wednesday] morning," Lowry told Golfweek.
'We're good to go. To be honest, I didn't want him to feel like he had to play because of me. He's not letting me down if he wanted to take some time. He feels like he wants to get back out there. He feels like next week is a good week to do it. So, yeah, we'll be there.'
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