When Rory McIlroy won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with his friend Shane Lowry in April 2024, it was nothing but good vibrations for the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy followed that with a victory at the Wells Fargo Championship the next month, and his next major title seemed more attainable than ever.
It took McIlroy a bit longer, including another heartbreaking runner-up finish at the U.S. Open, but he ended his decade-long major drought with win No. 5 this month at the Masters.
Now, McIlroy’s first competitive golf since claiming his green jacket and completing the career Grand Slam will be back at the Zurich alongside Irishman Lowry. The team event begins Thursday at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La.
“It’s amazing what a year can do,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Yeah, this tournament last year was a really cool moment for both of us. I think it probably injected a little bit of joy back into golf for me in some way, which I think is really, really important not to lose that.
“Yeah, for me, I had a great year last year, and I think this tournament was sort of the catalyst to the really good golf that I played for the rest of the year.”
McIlroy and Lowry headline the field of 80 pairings in the field as the Zurich is played as a team event for the eighth time. While 2022 champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are not competing this year, other recognizable names include Collin Morikawa with Kurt Kitayama, Sahith Theegala with Englishman Aaron Rai and the Canadian duo of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin.
Danish twin brothers Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard are competing as a team, as are English brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick once again.
The first and third rounds will be four-ball (best ball), while the second and final rounds will be foursomes (alternate shot). Alternate shot in particular requires both players to be on their A-game.
“I think winning as a team was honestly one of the coolest experiences you can have,” Lowry said. “Any time you win — I know last year we won this tournament, and Rory obviously played great, but I knew I played my part, as well. So you’re kind of going away thinking, âWe’ve both done pretty well to win this tournament.'”
TPC Louisiana is a par-72, 7,425-yard layout. The winning scores the past three years have been 25 under, 30 under and 29 under, the record being set by Nick Hardy and Davis Riley in 2023, when they beat Taylor and Hadwin by two.
As the golf season wears on, some are also thinking ahead to the Ryder Cup five months from now at Bethpage Black in New York. Englishman Luke Donald, the captain of defending champion Team Europe, will be watching how the Europeans fare in four-ball and foursomes while he teams up with Camilo Villegas of Colombia.
“It’ll be interesting to see how they do. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye,” Donald said. “I had a few conversations earlier in the year about potential partnerships amongst some of these Europeans that I thought might work.”
