Rory McIlroy has opened up on why he struggled at the Zurich Open alongside Shane Lowry. The duo were in contention to defend their title heading into the final day of action at New Orleans but crumbled late on.
Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin emerged as the unlikely winners, finishing 1-under 71 to land the spoils by a single stroke ahead of twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard.
The event was McIlroy’s first since winning the Masters and therefore completing a career grand slam, but the Northern Irishman was unable to come to the rescue of his team. They were once just a few shots off the lead on Sunday but missed a birdie on 11 before bogeying on 13, 15 and 17, finishing the tournament joint-12th on 22-under.
Speaking after the defeat, McIlroy said: “Yeah, just didn’t really have any momentum from when we started back up again (following a delay), and it was difficult to just sort of get anything.
“We noticed the greens got pretty fast and pretty firm after the delay, too, so it got a little tougher. We felt like we still had a good chance, and we didn’t make birdie on 11, and then we bogeyed 13 again for the second time this week.
Lowry similarly alluded to how the pair were unable to build any momentum, saying: “I think we played alright, just today nothing really happened for us, and then after the delay we just went — everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I had a great week. I’m happy my man (McIlroy) came here this week, and we had a great time, and it was fun.”
After what has been a busy few weeks of action, McIlroy went on to reveal that he is set to have a ‘week off’ to reset and ensure that he is mentally and physically ready for his upcoming competitions. He said: “I’ve got to just take a little bit off time here.
“It’s nice to have a week off, and yeah, reset and try to get some practice in. I feel like it’s like two practice weeks coming up in a way with next week at home and then Truist, as well, in some ways.”