If you’ve been pining for a break from the slog of stroke-play occasions on the PGA Tour schedule, that is your week.
On Thursday, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans kicks off at TPC Louisianna, with self-selected two-man groups enjoying four-ball within the first and third rounds, and foursomes within the second and ultimate rounds. Most of the squads’ origin tales don’t require a lot clarification: Matt and Alex Fitzpatrck? Brothers! Jacob Skov Olesen and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen? Fellow Danes! Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak? Defending champions! But there’s a minimum of one partnership that might offer you pause: Brooks Koepka and . . . Shane Lowry?
Lowry will get it.
“To the outside it might not look like it makes sense,” he mentioned from the match Wednesday, his odd-couple companion by his aspect, “but, you know, to us it does.”
It might seem nonsensical as a result of we’re extra accustomed to seeing the Irishman (Lowry) and American (Koepka) locking horns than we’re leaning on each other. They’ve by no means gone head-to-head in a Ryder Cup match, however they’ve twice performed in the identical Ryder Cup, together with within the contentious version outdoors Rome in 2023. That was the week when Day 2 of the matches culminated with Lowry and different Europeans chirping Patrick Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava, on the 18th inexperienced. That rigidity spilled into the car parking zone the place Lowry needed to maintain again Rory McIlroy from berating Justin Thomas’s caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay — and but extra ugliness again on the group resort the place McIlroy allegedly acquired into it with Koepka’s caddie, Ricky Elliott.
None of that is to say that Lowry has ever harbored any beef with Koepka or vice versa, however given the historical past between their camps (or a minimum of their continents), it’s nonetheless stunning on some degree to see them syncing up.
Thing is, although, Ryder Cup rivalries can evaporate shortly below the nice and cozy South Florida solar, particularly within the Jupiter Island space the place palms timber are outnumbered solely by multimillionaire Tour execs. Patrol the Bear’s Club, Medalist or Old Palm on any Tuesday morning throughout an off-week and also you’re more likely to spot a cluster of brand-name execs from each side of the Atlantic having fun with each other’s firm, if not taking each other’s cash.
“Everybody plays the same golf courses, so we see each other pretty much every other day,” Koepka mentioned Wednesday. “I don’t go a day without seeing a guy out here, so there’s always conversations. There’s always people talking, having lunch, doing whatever, practicing together. It happens way more frequently than I think people realize.”
Also on the record of standard Tour-pro hangs within the neighborhood is Michael Jordan’s swank membership, Grove XXIII, which is the place Lowry and Koepka performed a spherical collectively a number of months again — and the place Lowry popped the query.
“I said to him, ‘I might need a partner for New Orleans’” Lowry mentioned. “He goes, ‘Well, I’m going to have to play there.’ That was it.”
Lowry performed with McIlroy within the earlier two Zurichs (they received collectively in 2024), however when McIlroy bowed out of this yr’s version, Lowry wanted a date. Koepka, in the meantime, simply wanted begins. Since his January return from LIV Golf to the PGA Tour, he has lacked the required FedEx factors to qualify for the Signature Events; he’s hopeful, with Lowry’s assist, to enhance his standing this week.
Lowry and Koepka’s relationship extends past the borders of South Florida. They first acquired to know one another in 2012 and ’13 when Koepka was slicing his enamel on the DP World Tour. Lowry has recognized Elliott, Koepka’s looper, for even longer. When Lowry received the Open Championship in 2019, Elliott, who’s from Portrush, was amongst a swell of well-wishers ready to congratulate Lowry by the 18th inexperienced.
A couple of weeks after Lowry and Koepka’s spherical on the Grove, Lowry texted a follow-up observe to each Elliott and Koepka to ensure they have been nonetheless on for the Zurich. But Lowry mentioned he didn’t have a agency dedication from Koepka till he bumped into him a number of weeks later.
“I said, ‘Are we going to tee it up in New Orleans?’” Lowry mentioned. “He said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”
The betting sharpies like Lowry and Koepka’s possibilities this week, setting their odds solely behind favorites Matt Fitzpatrick, who has received twice within the final month, and his brother Alex, who received the DP World Tour’s Hero Indian Open final month. And on paper Lowry and Koepka do appear like an excellent match.
Lowry is correct off the tee and may work the ball in each instructions. (“My job is to try and hit it in the fairway,” Lowry mentioned.) Koepka’s iron play is almost unequalled (he’s 2nd in SG: Approaches). And Lowry has been holing putts (thirty first in SG: Putting).
The setup fits their eyes, too. “I like the way we’re going with him hitting off certain holes and me hitting off the other holes,” Koepka mentioned. “Everybody feels comfortable on the holes that we’re going to play.” Koepka added, ”Then the best-ball aspect of this entire factor, he’s been enjoying nice, so simply let him go do him and keep out of the best way.”
Lowry feels fairly good about his companion, too.
“He’s Brooks Koepka” Lowry mentioned. “He’s got five majors. You know what I mean?”
