NEW ORLEANS — Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry received the Zurich Traditional of New Orleans crew occasion Sunday, beating Chad Ramey and Martin Coach with a par on the primary gap of a playoff.
Coach pushed a 6-foot par putt to the precise of the cup to finish it, with Lowry and McIlroy sharing a smiling embrace on the inexperienced.
The 34-year-old McIlroy, enjoying within the occasion for the primary time, received his twenty fifth PGA Tour title and first of the season. Lowry claimed his third PGA Tour victory.
The Irish tandem closed with a 4-under 68 within the alternate-shot ultimate spherical to match Ramey and Coach at 25-under 263.
Ramey and Coach started the day tied for twenty seventh at 16 underneath and shot to the highest of the leaderboard with 9 birdies between the seventh and 18th holes. They tied the alternate-shot event report of 63, however then needed to wait practically three hours to see if their lead would get up.
They struggled to execute on the playoff gap. Coach pulled his drive into the left tough, Ramey additionally yanked his strategy left off the cart path and into the wall beneath the suites across the 18th inexperienced. Coach then chipped brief earlier than Ramey lastly received his crew on the inexperienced.
Lowry narrowly missed his mark twice on the playoff gap, placing an strategy in a bunker after which leaving a birdie putt for the victory on the sting of the cup.
However Lowry got here by when he needed to on the 18th, forcing the playoff with a brief birdie putt on the par-5 gap, capitalizing on McIlroy’s deft lofted chip from the apron that stopped near the pin.
Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard have been practically within the playoff as properly. Needing a birdie, they went lengthy off the 18th inexperienced on their second shot. Hubbard’s chip up the again apron stopped brief on the perimeter, however Brehm nonetheless practically sank a birdie putt from there, leaving the ball close to the precise fringe of the cup as the group gasped. They completed third at 24 underneath.
Former BYU teammates Patrick Fishburn and Zach Blair, the leaders after three rounds, have been nonetheless tied for the lead heading to 17, solely to make a double bogey after Blair’s tee shot landed proper of the inexperienced and Fishburn chipped brief. They wound up in a four-way tie for fourth at 23 underneath.
Defending champions Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin completed tenth after their final-round 71 left them at 21 underneath.
McIlroy and Lowry started the day two pictures off the lead and bogeyed two of their first three holes earlier than starting the cost on the seventh, the place McIlroy made the primary of 4 birdie putts over the subsequent 5 holes.
McIlroy had two mis-hits down the stretch that would have been pricey, leaving an strategy shot properly wanting the inexperienced on the par-4 thirteenth and hitting brief right into a fairway bunker on the brief par-4 sixteenth.
Lowry chipped to about 10 ft and McIlroy saved par on 13. On 16, Lowry discovered the left facet of the inexperienced together with his strategy shot from the sand and McIlroy sank a right-breaking birdie putt to raise his crew right into a tie for first at 25-under.
However the Irishmen bogeyed 17 after Lowry’s pale tee shot landed within the gallery proper of the inexperienced and McIlroy’s chip over the ridge of a bunker ran properly previous the opening.
That meant they must have a birdie on 18 to power a playoff. They received it, beginning with McIlroy’s booming tee shot into the water-lined fairway.
