Lowry & McIlroy in four-way tie for the lead in Louisiana

Zurich Classic of New Orleans R1

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry opened with a bogey-free 11-under 61 to take a share of the lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

“It was nice,” said Lowry. “Any day you go out and play the round of golf we did, you’re going to have a good time. We enjoyed it. We both played nice golf. We both made some nice birdies and contributed to the team, and I think we’re very happy with the day, and quick turnaround before tomorrow.

“Looking forward to getting out in foursomes tomorrow. Should be fun, as well. It’s a format that’s tougher, but it is an enjoyable format.”

“You know that you sort of need to get off to a good start [in the better ball format], and thankfully we did,” continued McIlroy. “We were 4-under through 4, which was really nice to see, and from there you’ve got some momentum and you’re just trying to keep it going.

“But for the most part today, we kept both balls in play. We were having two looks basically on every hole at birdie, and that’s the way you need to play better ball. Everyone thinks it’s maybe a bit more gung ho than that, but as long as you have two balls in play off the tee, two balls on the green, I think you’re always going to do pretty well in this format.”

Three other teams, Davis Thompson/Andrew Novak, Ben Kohles/Patton Kizzire and Aaron Rai/David Lipsky also stayed bogey-free to form a four-way tie marking the first time with more than two teams sharing the lead after any round since the event went to a team format in 2017.

Three sets of brothers are competing as teams in this year’s event: Matt &Alex Fitzpatrick (T44/-6), Nicolai & Rasmus Højgaard (T67/-4) and Parker & Pierceson Coody (T67/-4).

This is the seventh year the Zurich Classic of New Orleans is being played in a two-man team format. It was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Teams will play Four-Ball in the first and third rounds, and Foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and final rounds.

Each player on the winning team will receive 400 FedExCup points, $1,286,050, a two-year exemption on the PGA TOUR (through 2026) and entry into the three remaining Signature Events.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1
T1Brehm/ Hubbard-1161
T1Kohles/ Kizzire-1161
T1Rai/ Lipsky-1161
T1McIlroy/ Lowry-1161
T5Thompson/ Novak-1062
T5Detry/ MacIntyre-1062
T5Champ/ Daffue-1062
T8Stevens/ Barjon-963
T8Higgo/ Fox-963
T8List/ Norlander-963
T8Conners/ Pendrith-963
T8Blair/ Fishburn-963
T8Meissner/ Smotherman-963
T8Tarren/ Skinns-963
T8Mitchell/ Dahmen-963
T8Taylor/ Hadwin-963
T8Johnson/ Palmer-963
T8Lashley/ Campos-963
T8Taylor/ O'Hair-963
T8Sigg/ Hadley-963
T21Yu/ Pan-864
T21Spaun/ Buckley-864
T21Echavarria/ Greyserman-864
T21Berger/ Perez-864
T21Hall/ Piercy-864
T21Eckroat/ Gotterup-864
T21Wallace/ Olesen-864
T21Silverman/ Dougherty-864
T29Chappell/ Dufner-765
T29Vegas/ Burgoon-765
T29Ghim/ Kim-765
T29Theegala/ Zalatoris-765
T29Cantlay/ Schauffele-765
T29Moore/ NeSmith-765
T29Hoffman/ Watney-765
T29Putnam/ Highsmith-765
T29Suh/ Hoey-765
T29Phillips/ Bridgeman-765
T29Molinari/ Donald-765
T29Malnati/ Knox-765
T29Young/ Martin-765
T29Wu/ Lower-765
T29Xiong/ McCormick-765
T44Whaley/ Long-666
T44Kraft/ Tway-666
T44Montgomery/ Griffin-666
T44Ramey/ Trainer-666
T44Hardy/ Riley-666
T44Garnett/ Straka-666
T44Hoge/ McNealy-666
T44Kuchar/ Stricker-666
T44Wu/ Nicholas-666
T44Lawrence/ Potgieter-666
T44Tosti/ Potter, Jr.-666
T44Morikawa/ Kitayama-666
T44Fitzpatrick/ Fitzpatrick-666
T44Lee/ Kim-666
T44Reavie/ Snedeker-666
T44Norrman/ Campillo-666
T60Yuan/ Dou-567
T60Barnes/ Endycott-567
T60Stanger/ Dumont de Chassart-567
T60Merritt/ Streb-567
T60Horschel/ Alexander-567
T60Woodland/ Hodges-567
T60Shelton/ Furr-567
T67Kim/ Bae-468
T67Hossler/ Ryder-468
T67Pereda/ Cook-468
T67Højgaard/ Højgaard-468
T67Streelman/ Laird-468
T67Gutschewski/ Byrd-468
T67Coody/ Coody-468
T74Kisner/ Brown-369
T74Cole/ Cochran-369
T74Crowe/ Higgs-369
T77Smalley/ Schmid-270
T77Sloan/ Teater-270
T77Springer/ Whitney-270
80Hale, Jr./ Haley II-171
Updated: April 26, 2024