In the Zurich Classic, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy, who is playing for the first time since winning the Masters, recorded an 8-under 64 in four-ball (best-ball) on Thursday, putting the Irish defending champions six shots behind leaders Kevin Velo and Isaiah Salinda.
In the only team event on the PGA TOUR, rookies Salinda and Velo set a tournament record of 58 to start the competition. Nicolai and Rasmus Højgaard, identical twins from Denmark, were a shot back. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the teams will play foursomes (alternate shot), four-ball, and foursomes consecutively.
To watch McIlroy, a sizable crowd assembled on the 10th hole at TPC Louisiana before 8 a.m. local time. He recovered from an early-week sickness to put up some good show following a somewhat poor start.
“Seeing so many people on a Thursday morning was fantastic. It’s always pleasant to perform in front of a public that is passionate and supportive, and I look forward to doing more of that in the days to come.” McIlroy said.
Following their back-nine start, Lowry led the team early on by birdieing 3 of the first holes and added another on the par-5 18th.
McIlroy celebrated his first birdie with a playful fist pump after making a roughly 20-foot putt on No. 1.
On the par-5 second hole, McIlroy followed that up with an eagle, hitting a 6-iron from 204 yards to 5 feet to reach 8-under.
On No. 6, they both made bogey after pulling tee shots left in the water, but they added a birdie on the fourth. On the par-5 7th, McIlroy missed a 20-foot eagle putt by a short margin and had to settle for birdie.
“I believe that on days like this, every par you make can feel like a bogey, but you must keep in mind that tomorrow and Sunday (the Foursomes) are crucial days, and you can advance quite rapidly if you can shoot well on those days.” McIlroy said.
Velo and Salinda both played the front nine in 10-under, with eight birdies and Salinda making an eagle on No. 7. They parred 3 of the final 4 while adding 4 more birdies on the back 9.
“When your buddy is stacking it and making a bunch of putts, it’s quite easy to play golf. It was a very, very good day, with a couple of pretty clutch par saves on the back nine.” Velo said.
At 61, the teams of Paul Peterson/Thomas Rosenmueller, Kris Ventura/Antoine Rozner, and Cam Davis/Adam Svensson were tied for third place with Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama.
On the seventh, Adam Schenk holled out from 231 yards out with an albatross. Tyler Duncan and Schenk both shot 63.
The other identical twins in the field, Yannik and Jeremy Paul of Germany, shot 67.
