ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 25, 2024

Rory McIlroy

Shane Lowry

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

Q. It looked like you guys had a good time out there, obviously hit a lot of good shots. Tell us about your first round out here today.

SHANE LOWRY: I mean, it was nice. 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.

Yeah, looking forward to that.

Q. How much pressure do you feel by the time you go out there, guys already posting 63s, 62s? I assume there's expectations like we want to get going right off the bat?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, absolutely, especially in the better ball format. You know that you sort of need to get off to a good start, and thankfully we did. 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.

Q. It looked like the wind started to pick up a little as the day went on. There's also grain, quite a bit of that also in there. Is the course trickier than scores would indicate? Everybody sees those low scores, there are two balls in play, but how much did the course get more challenging as the day went on?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah, it was. There's a lot of grain around the holes and it's kind of tricky to read in places. It's friendly-ish off the tee. You've got to get it in play. But it can get tricky. But when you play good golf, which is what we did today, it doesn't feel like that. It might look like that at times. I thought the course played tricky enough, but we played it very well.

Q. Rory, this is your first experience at this tournament. Is this sort of what you had hoped to get out of this event? Obviously it's only one round, but good golf. Sounds like you guys have had a good time so far. Was this your aspiration and hope for this event?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, absolutely. I don't know if I knew what to expect. I've watched this tournament a little bit over the years on TV, heard some good things from some of the players. It's nice to come here, team up with a really good friend, and if we play a good round tomorrow, it'll be awesome to be in contention for the weekend and try to get a win on the PGA TOUR with a friend beside me. Looking forward to it.

Q. Speaking of playing with your friend, is this beneficial to playing good golf, being out there with good friends and just having good vibes on the course?

SHANE LOWRY: I definitely felt today I was less hard on myself than I've been in the last few weeks when I hit a couple of bad shots. It's nice to know you've got Rory McIlroy backing you up. But yeah, I definitely feel like there's a nice vibe out there with the two of us. We know each other's games so well. We've played a lot of golf. We play a lot of golf at home together, and we just know each other so well. Yeah, it's nice being out there.

Q. Rory, first impression of New Orleans, your first day at the top of the leaderboard. Pretty good start in the Crescent City, right?

RORY McILROY: Yeah, really good start. I've had a wonderful time so far. I've only been here really a couple of days. But we're staying downtown. We've ventured out a couple of times. Yeah, it's a cool city, great food scene. I thought the crowds out there today and the support that we got was amazing. Looking forward to more of that over the next three days.

Q. Have you had some pretty good meals?

RORY McILROY: We did eat good last night. Yeah, we did.

Q. What did you have?

RORY McILROY: It was like French, I guess, was it?

SHANE LOWRY: Yeah. I had a steak.

RORY McILROY: So did I.

Q. Tomorrow with your early tee time, any fiestas tomorrow night?

RORY McILROY: Who's playing tomorrow night, do you know?

SHANE LOWRY: No, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying out of trouble. We're going for a nice meal tomorrow night.

RORY McILROY: Hopefully we have a late tee time on Saturday, so you never know.