A friend in need is a friend indeed. Rory McIlroy stood by his good friend Shane Lowry after a brutal PGA Tour collapse last weekend. Lowry had looked in sublime touch and appeared the favorite to lift the Cognizant Classic trophy, thanks to his three-shot lead with just three holes to go. However, things changed drastically for Lowry as he double-bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes, dropping to second place. As a result, Nico Echavarria emerged victorious at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.
Rory McIlroy backs Shane Lowry after heartbreaking Cognizant Classic collapse
Rory McIlroy, who was seen talking to, consoling, and standing by Shane Lowry’s side during that tough moment, revealed exactly what he said to Lowry after the PGA Tour collapse. McIlroy tried to lift his friend’s confidence.
“I reminded him I double-bogeyed the 18th at PGA National in 2014 and went on to win two Majors that year. It was two bad holes, two bad swings. It doesn’t mean the rest of the year is going to be bad,” he said, revealing what he had told Lowry, as quoted by talksport.com.
McIlroy aimed to put Lowry in the right mindset for the upcoming Arnold Palmer Invitational. He has also spoken about the next Ryder Cup after it was confirmed that Luke Donald will return as Team Europe captain in 2027.
McIlroy said, “It’s amazing. I think it’s obviously a huge advantage for the European team to have that continuity and that consistency. I was sort of banging on that drum going into Bethpage. And we’ll have it even more so again. The team may be a little bit different, or it could be obviously really similar to Bethpage to what it was in Rome. I maybe envision a couple of other guys breaking their way into the team. But it’s wonderful to have Luke back. There’s not one player or one person behind the scenes that helps with Ryder Cup Europe that isn’t thrilled that Luke agreed to come back.”
Shane Lowry on losing the PGA Tour event
Shane Lowry also spoke to reporters and expressed his disappointment at throwing away the Cognizant Classic title after a dominant performance. Speaking after the collapse, he said: “I’m obviously extremely disappointed. I had the tournament in my hands, and I threw it away. What more can I say? That’s twice this year so far. I’m getting good at it. The hardest thing about today is that I’ve never won in front of my four-year-old. I only wanted it for her today. I didn’t want it for — I don’t care about anything else. I wanted it so bad. Just to see her little ginger hair running down the 18th green would have been the most special thing in the world. ”
“I thought I had it. I thought I was going to win. I didn’t get ahead of myself, but I felt so comfortable out there. And then, yeah, I tried to get a lot out of my three-iron on 16 and did the only thing I couldn’t really do,” he added.
Lowry, who was clearly heartbroken by his failure, will aim to turn things around at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week.
