Rory McIlroy was living every shot with Shane Lowry during the final round of the Truist Championship on Sunday. The Northern Irishman saw his own chances of defending the title he won last year go up in smoke, with a round of 68 leaving him six shots behind eventual winner Sepp Straka.
But McIlroy’s good friend Lowry was in the thick of the action right up until a three-putt on the 18th green saw him slip back to a tie for second. Lowry could have moved a step closer to a big-money win on the 15th hole, where he came within a whisker of chipping in.
Behind-the-scenes footage showed McIlroy watching on from the scoring tent. And the newly-crowned Masters champion put both hands on his head in disbelief when it didn’t fall for the Irishman.
McIlroy still showed his class after Straka’s two-stroke victory was confirmed, as he went out onto the course to congratulate the Austrian, and to remind him ‘at least this win counts for Ryder Cup points’.
Lowry, meanwhile, refused to give media interviews after missing out on what would have been his first individual PGA Tour victory since winning The Open Championship six years ago. The 38-year-old was a prominent figure in McIlroy’s Masters celebrations last month.
But he must wait a while longer to end his own winning drought. Lowry and McIlroy will both be vying for victory at the PGA Championship later this week.
McIlroy has a brilliant record at Quail Hollow – the North Carolina golf course hosting this year’s tournament. And Lowry will be eager to better the fourth-place finish he managed at the PGA Championship in 2021. The Clara-born star has been in impressive form this season with top-10 finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Valspar Championship and now the Truist Championship since the turn of the year.
Straka may fancy his chances of picking up a first major title, as he heads to Quail Hollow off the back of a morale-boosting victory which banked him over £2.7million.
“I hit a lot of really good shots and made a lot of mistakes,” said the 32-year-old. “I hung in there. I had a two-shot lead [at the turn] and made two bogeys on the next two holes to lose it, but I kept the same attitude and mentality throughout the round.”