McIlroy, Lowry rally to win Zurich Classic
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event Sunday, beating Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Trainer pushed a 6-foot par putt to the right of the cup to end it, with Lowry and McIlroy sharing a smiling embrace on the green.
The 34-year-old McIlroy, playing in the event for the first time, won his 25th PGA Tour title and first of the season. Lowry claimed his third PGA Tour victory.
The Irish tandem closed with a 4-under 68 in the alternate-shot final round to match Ramey and Trainer at 25-under 263.
Chico's Kurt Kitayama and partner Collin Morikawa finished tied for 23rd with a score of 270 after shooting 70 on Sunday.
Ramey and Trainer began the day tied for 27th at 16 under and shot to the top of the leaderboard with nine birdies between the seventh and 18th holes. They tied the alternate-shot tournament record of 63, but then had to wait nearly three hours to see if their lead would stand up.
They struggled to execute on the playoff hole. Trainer pulled his drive into the left rough, Ramey also yanked his approach left off the cart path and into the wall below the suites around the 18th green. Trainer then chipped short before Ramey finally got his team on the green.
Lowry narrowly missed his mark twice on the playoff hole, putting an approach in a bunker and then leaving a birdie putt for the victory on the edge of the cup.
But Lowry came through when he had to on the 18th, forcing the playoff with a short birdie putt on the par-5 hole, capitalizing on McIlroy's deft lofted chip from the apron that stopped close to the pin. CHAMPIONS >> Stephen Ames celebrated his 60th birthday with a successful title defense in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, closing with a 5-under 67 for his eighth PGA Tour Champions victory.
A stroke behind Paul Broadhurst after matching the tournament record Saturday with a 64, Ames had two eagles in the final round. He won by four strokes, finishing at 14-under 202 at TPC Sugarloaf for his record third victory in the event.
LIV >> Three-time PGA Tour winner Brendan Steele held off a fast finishing Louis Oosthuizen to win LIV Tour's Adelaide tournament at The Grange Golf Club by one stoke.
The 41-year-old Steele shot a final round 68 Sunday for a 54-hole total of 18-under 198 to earn his first victory since he won his second Safeway Open in 2017 on the PGA Tour.