Weekly PGA Recap: Irish Eyes Are Smiling

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

In the coming weeks, with the PGA Championship right around the corner, we will get a steady drumbeat of this being the 10th anniversary of Rory McIlroy's last major title. And with the PGA to be played at Valhalla, the very course where McIlroy was victorious at back in 2014, well, that just adds another layer to narrative.

So it can only be a good thing for McIlroy that he will able to divert at least a small bit of that narrative with a much-needed tournament win just three weeks out.  And perhaps he could put in a request to be grouped with good buddy Shane Lowry for the first two rounds.

McIlroy and Lowry teamed to capture the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana on Sunday after a one-hole playoff with Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer. The two teams shot 25-under-par for the week.

It's really hard to calibrate just how much, if at all, the results this week will translate into future success for the golfers -- whether they won, finished far back or missed the cut.

But for McIlroy, who's always among the top storylines at majors – and just about every other tournament, too -- any good news is welcome. And for Lowry, the benefits are much more tangible -- he will get into the remaining Signature Events, including two weeks from now at Wells Fargo, for which he hadn't previously qualified. Plus he gets a PGA Tour card for two more years, which, you never know, might have been an issue at some point.

But McIlroy is the story, as he almost always is.

"To win any PGA Tour event is very cool," said McIlroy, "but to do it with one of your closest friends, we've known each other for a long, long time, probably like over 20 years, so to think about where we met and where we've come from, to be on this stage and do this together, really, really cool journey that we've been a part of, and yeah, just awesome to be able to do it alongside this guy."

You could see and hear the joy in McIlroy, who has endured a slow start to this season, being a non-factor in the Masters as Scottie Scheffler has distanced himself from McIlroy and everyone else, and the constant LIV golf-related rumors and questions. He's taken a P.R. pounding for two years now, some of it self-inflicted, and we hadn't seem him express much joy on a golf course in some time. (Okay, there was the Ryder Cup -- another team event.)

But this victory was enough to make McIlroy burst out into song. Literally. 

Getting back to McIlroy asking to play the first two rounds of the PGA Championship with Lowry. Of course, that was in jest and they would be foes and not teammates. But playing alongside a good friend, even when competing for the same title, could be a comfort.

For now, McIlroy will perhaps take solace in a victory, even a team victory. It was the 25th of his PGA Tour career, making him the 26th player to reach that milestone and tying him for 23rd all-time with among others Johnny Miller. Only four golfers have accomplished the feat since Miller – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh are the others. And only 12 golfers have at least 25 wins and four majors. Not too shabby. Sure, it's fair to say that most of them didn't win team events, and maybe that shouldn't count. But who out there thinks McIlroy will never win another tournament?

Coming up soon are Quail Hollow in two weeks and Valhalla in three, two places McIlroy has won before. You already knew that.

But that won't stop the Golf Universe from reminding you many, many times between now and the 106th PGA Championship that McIlroy is now a decade into his major futility.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Chad Ramey - Martin Trainer
Just being in the same sentence as McIlroy and Lowry is quite an accomplishment for these guys, much less getting in a playoff with them. They tied the alternate-shot record of 63 on Sunday to soar up the leaderboard. The trouble was, they finished way early, had to sit around for almost three hours and then when Lowry-McIlroy finished late, the playoff began right afterward. Par won on the first playoff hole when Trainer missed a 6-footer. But runner-up under any conditions is a huge week for Ramey and Trainer, who finished T9 here last year and said afterward that they will back as a team next year. This might be the biggest paycheck of the year for them and also the most FedEx Cup points. It could be the difference in keeping their cards for next season.

Ryan Brehm - Mark Hubbard
The duo needed a birdie on 18 to get into the playoff, but Brehm's long try just missed on the right edge and they had solo third.

Zac Blair - Patrick Fishburn
The former BYU teammates were the 54-hole leaders and still had a share until doubling the 17th hole to slide into a four-way tie for fourth, costing them quite a bit of cash and FedEx Cup points.

Adam Hadwin - Nick Taylor
The Canadians, enjoying good seasons individually, especially Taylor, tied for 10th. They were runners-up a year ago. Like McIlroy and Lowry, they are good friends.

Alex Fitzpatrick - Matt Fitzpatrick
The brothers tied for 11th. A win would've landed younger brother Alex on the PGA Tour. He'll continue to play on the DP World Tour.

Charley Hoffman - Nick Watney
The only tandem to play in all seven editions of the team Zurich, these guys finished top-20 for the fifth time by tying for 11th. Watney hadn't made a cut all year, but these two 40-somethings clearly have something special going in this format.

Patrick Cantlay - Xander Schauffele
The favorites coming in had their worst Zurich in four years of playing together. They tied for 23rd.

Aaron Rai - David Lipsky
They opened with a scintillating 61 to lead after 18 holes, but they could do no better than tie for 23rd.

MISSED CUTS

Taylor Moore - Matt NeSmith had tied for fourth each of the past two years. … Sahith Theegala - Will Zalatoris seemed like a perfect pair for team golf, but little is assured in this format. … Tyson Alexander - Billy Horschel – Horschel had won this tournament as a single and as part of a team (with Scott Piercy in 2018) and was coming off a win last week at Puntacana. … It wasn't a good week for twins, as both Parker Coody - Pierceson Coody and Nicolai Hojgaard - Rasmus Hojgaard came up well short. Like with the Fitzpatricks, a win would have earned Rasmus a PGA Tour card.

KORN FERRY TOUR

Tim Widing of Sweden won for the second straight week, this time at the Veritex Bank Championship in Arlington, Texas. Frankie Capan III, who shot a 58 in the first round, finished fourth. The 26-year-old Widing took over the top spot in the KF season-long standings and seems destined to earn his PGA Tour card for 2025. In fact, with one more win this season he would receive an instant "battlefield promotion" to the big leagues.

KOREAN TOUR

Sungjae Im played the RBC Heritage last week and will play the CJ Cup Byron Nelson this week. In between, he flew to Korea and and won the Woori Financial Group Championship on the Korea PGA Tour. It's his first worldwide win since last year's Woori. No one else in the top-250 in the world rankings was in the field. Im has not won on the PGA Tour since the 2021 Shriners. He had fallen outside the top 40 in the OWGR but now has moved up to 37th.