Breakfast Ball #17: An Irish Party in New Orleans

New Orleans has been the host to many good parties over the years. Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy submitted their entry for consideration yesterday. From Rory’s rendition of Don’t Stop Believin’ to Shane lifting Rory up as if he was a 12 year old boy, it was quite the celebration.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

McIlroy and Lowry Team Up to WIN the Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Making plans is one of the main things humans do when we have a few drinks. Whether it’s as aspirational as a group summer holiday or a simple ambition to go to the gym the following morning, they rarely actually happen. It is even more rare when those plans materialize into a win on the PGA Tour.

Unless you are Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.

McIlroy and Lowry won the Zurich Classic after defeating frenchman Martin Trainer and Chad Ramey in a playoff at TPC Louisiana. It was McIlroy’s 25th PGA Tour victory and Lowry’s first win on US soil since winning the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in 2015. The Zurich Classic is a unique event on tour, where players participate in teams of two, alternating between foursomes and fourball play each day. It was McIlroy’s first time participating in the event, and the idea for it came from post-Ryder Cup celebrations last year. McIlroy: “We had this really drunken lunch after the Ryder Cup and I said to him “you want to play Zurich together?””. Lowry followed up over text at Christmas to make sure it was happening, and they found themselves committing to the event a few weeks later.

McIlroy and Lowry approached the 72nd hole one stroke behind Trainer and Ramey, who had shot a record-tying 63 on the final day to get to 25-under. After Lowry sprayed his approach left, the team needed to get up and down for birdie on the par 5 to make the playoff. McIlroy pulled off a beautiful chip that left Lowry with a short putt to complete the up and down. Trainer and Ramey could only manage a bogey on the first playoff hole, giving McIlroy and Lowry the victory with a par.

McIlroy reflected on their past: “To think about where we met and where we've come from, just awesome to be able to do it alongside this guy”. This week probably meant more to McIlroy than he was willing to share. His life has been filled with controversy over the last two years dealing with the LIV Golf drama and everything that has come from it. His on course performances have played second fiddle to the circus off the course, leading to poor results. This week, he played golf for the same reason most of us do every weekend. He had fun with one of his friends and just happened to win after it was all said and done.

Lowry: “Hopefully we can both kick on now. We've got three majors left. Hopefully we can get one each, or maybe two and one.” I am sure there are very few golf fans that would not like to see that happen.

Other European Finishers:

• 🇫🇷 A win for Martin Trainer would have guaranteed him PGA Tour status for the next two seasons, but it was not to be. Trainer only has conditional status on tour as it stands

• 🇫🇷 Paul Barjon finished in T4 partnered up with American Sam Stevens

• 🇧🇪 Tom Detry and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Bob MacIntyre finished T8, three shots behind the leader

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 The Fitzpatricks played in T11 and 🇩🇰 The Højgaards did not make the cut

European LIV Golf Stars Given Hope for Pathway to the Ryder Cup Team in 2025

When Jon Rahm left for LIV Golf late in 2023, one of the biggest questions on peoples minds was clear: how could we have the Ryder Cup without Jon Rahm? He is without doubt one of Europe’s top golfers, but with his move to LIV Golf, everything was uncertain. However, the path to playing in the event is clearer after the new DP World Tour CEO Guy Kinnings was presented in London on Friday.

“I think there’s been a slight misconception because the reality is, under the current rules, if a player is European, is a member of the DP World Tour, and abides by the rules as they currently are there is no reason why players who’ve taken LIV membership and maintained DP World Tour membership, could not a/ qualify and or b/ be available for [wildcard] selection”.

Players must play in four DP World Tour (DPWT) events outside of the majors each year to maintain membership. LIV players are banned from playing in DPWT events the week following every LIV event, making it difficult to fulfill that requirement in the summer months. However, the LIV season will wrap up in September, allowing players to play in late season events and keep their DPWT membership. This includes iconic events such as the Irish Open, the BMW PGA Championship, and Jon Rahm’s own national championship, the Open De España.

We could see a world in which the DP World Tour provides a fascinating end to the golfing season, as LIV and PGA Tour players come together and generate a buzz that the DPWT has not seen in quite some time. I am sure Guy Kinnings had that in mind as he opened the door to this possibility.

Other Results on Tour:

• American Brendan Steele won LIV Adelaide in a playoff against Louis Oosthuizen

  • 🇪🇸 Jon Rahm finished two shots off the leaders in a tie for third

  • The next best Europeans were 🇩🇪 Martin Kaymer and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tyrell Hatton in a tie for fourteenth

• Japan’s Yuto Katsuragawa won on his home turf with a win in the ISPS Handa Championship on the DP World Tour

  • 🇸🇪 Sebastian Söderberg came in second place to push himself into the top ten of the DPWT standings

• We could be seeing the emergence of another Danish golf star as 🇩🇰 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen won his second event in three starts on the second tier Challenge Tour

  • The 24-year-old played alongside Viktor Hovland at Oklahoma State University, graduating in 2023

Coming up this week on Tour

• The PGA Tour moves on to the Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch

• LIV Golf’s next stop is in Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club

• The Volvo China Open is the stage for the next event on the DP World Tour

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