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McIlroy ready to rest before PGA Championship assault

Lowry and McIlroy shot a fourth-round 72
Lowry and McIlroy shot a fourth-round 72

Rory McIlroy is looking forward to taking a short break before ramping his golf season back up again after his defence of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans fell short with team-mate Shane Lowry.

Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin held off a late challenge to claim the title.

The American pair birdied the par three 17th in the alternate shot format to reach 28-under-par, one better than Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard, who had grabbed the clubhouse lead with a closing birdie.

Defending champions McIlroy and Lowry slipped back to a tie for 12th after a closing 72, three bogeys on the back nine ending their challenge.

"I've got to just take a little bit of time here," McIlroy said after the tournament. "It's nice to have a week off, and reset and try to get some practice in."

The pair will next tee it up at the Truist Championship in Philadelphia before heading for the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow - a venue McIlroy simply adores.

"I feel like it's like two practice weeks coming up in a way with next week at home and then Truist, as well," McIlroy added.

"I'm looking forward to a couple of days off and then sort of kicking the feet up and trying to recharge the batteries a little bit.

"It's been a fun week. When we went back out after the delay, we felt like we still had a good chance, and we didn't make birdie on 11, and then we bogeyed 13 again for the second time this week.

"We just didn't really have any momentum from when we started back up again, and it was difficult to just sort of get anything. Overall, it's been a good week. It's always good to team up with this man. We've had fun."

Griffin and Novak with the trophy

Lowry was delighted McIlroy honoured his commitment to the team event so soon after finally completing the career grand slam by winning the Masters.

"We played all right," Lowry said. "Nothing really happened for us, and then after the delay, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

"I had a great week. I'm happy my man came here this week, and we had a great time, and it was fun."

Novak lost a play-off with Justin Thomas at the RBC Heritage tournament last week, but went one better alongside his fellow American Griffin as they shot a closing 71 to claim their first PGA Tour wins.

They mixed three birdies with as many bogeys on the way out, Griffin's 35-foot birdie putt on the 17th breaking a run of pars and keeping them ahead of the Hojgaards, who finished with a 68 after three birdies in their final six holes.

Jake Knapp and Frankie Capan had caught their fellow Americans, but Capan pulled his tee shot into the water at the 17th, and they finished two strokes off the lead in third.

Additional reporting: PA


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