It is somewhat disrespectful to the likes of Patrick Reed and Justin Rose, but virtually all eyes were on Rory McIlroy during the final round of The Masters, with the Northern Irishman putting every viewer through a torturous few hours.
Rory McIlroy went into Sunday at The Masters with a two-shot lead. And while Bryson DeChambeau fell away quite quickly, McIlroy seemed determined to do all he could to make sure that he did not leave Augusta National with a green jacket.
Just when it appeared that the 35-year-old had the tournament under control, he would make a bogey or double bogey and open the door for the chasing pack.
It went right down to the wire, with Justin Rose making a brilliant charge which ultimately resulted in the tournament going to a playoff.
Shane Lowry shares the Rory McIlroy prediction he made at The Masters which he got wrong
McIlroy ultimately got the job done. But it was a real rollercoaster – and it seems that Shane Lowry could not help but keep one eye on his next tournament as it was happening.
Lowry had a difficult weekend at Augusta, falling out of contention. Of course, many will remember that Lowry got frustrated in an interview after the third round after being asked about McIlroy’s hopes of winning.
So his thoughts started to turn towards the Zurich Classic of New Orleans before he was done at Augusta. Lowry and McIlroy are defending champions at TPC Louisiana, and it appears that the 2019 Open champion had serious doubts about whether they would defend their crown.
“I said to my caddie on the 15th hole at Augusta, obviously I was done so I was watching the leaderboard, and I think he’d probably just made double on 13, and I said to Darren, I said, no matter what happens the next few holes, I think we’re going to do well to get into New Orleans. If things didn’t go his way, I don’t think he’d want to be here, and I thought if things did go his way, he’d want to be somewhere else. But I’m happy he’s here,” he said.
How Shane Lowry has performed on the PGA Tour this season
Lowry is definitely in that group of players who have been so impressive without winning on the PGA Tour this year.
The 38-year-old has three top 10s, including a second place finish – to Rory McIlroy – at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He also continued his impressive recent run at Augusta National, as he registered a top 20 finish.
But Lowry will need no-one to tell him that it could have been so much better. With that, it is no surprise that he started to lose focus on his own performance in the latter stages.
It would also be no surprise if a big win was just around the corner for Lowry.
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