Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are still in contention to defend their Zurich Classic of New Orleans title after carding a superb 11-under-par 61 in the penultimate round at TPC Louisiana.
The Irish duo moved to 22 under for the event in a tie for sixth, though they are five adrift of Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak, who recorded a 61 of their own.
Two closing birdies took that duo to 27-under-par ahead of the alternate shot final round, three clear of fellow Americans Jake Knapp and Frankie Capan III, plus the Japanese pair Ryo Hisatsune and Takumi Kanaya.
Lowry recorded three birdies and an eagle on the par-five seventh, while McIlroy made five birdies and an eagle on 18, with his closing 30-foot putt coming after a 90-minute weather delay due to lightning.
Rory with the walk-off eagle‼️@McIlroyRory and @ShaneLowryGolf are tied for the lead @Zurich_Classic.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 26, 2025
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/mPoY075EVw
The Holywood man said of the putt and the delay: "I think the secret is not thinking about it in those 90 minutes. We had a bit of lunch and we were watching some highlights from last year and talking about where we're going to go for dinner tonight.
"The last thing on my mind during the delay was the putt, and then once I got back out there, I sort of concentrated on it and made sure I did what I needed to do and just a bonus for it to go in."
More than satisfied with their day's work, Lowry, who also had their evening meal on his mind, said: "I feel like we played pretty well today, I think. There were a lot of holes where both of us had chances.
"We went out and we did what we had to do. We knew we were going to have to go out and shoot a really low score today.
"I was pretty happy to have Rory go out and eagle the last there. It makes dinner taste nicer and kind of puts us in a great position going into tomorrow."
Novak has finished in the top three in his last two events, losing in a play-off to Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage last week.
He kept himself in pole position to go one better as he and Griffin birdied the first four holes, adding five more, including on the last two holes, as they stretched their advantage.
