Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry entered Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans hoping to defend their title from last year.

The Irish duo won the only team-tournament on Tour in 2024 in a playoff.

Instead, a pair of unlikely golf heroes emerged victorious. Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin took home the trophy, carding a 1-under 71 on Sunday to win by a single stroke over the Nicolai and twin brother Rasmus Hojgaard.

Meanwhile, McIlroy and Lowry’s hopes of repeating were dashed after a weather delay.

“Yeah, just didn’t really have any momentum from when we started back up again, and it was difficult to just sort of get anything,” McIlroy said following the round.

“We noticed the greens got pretty fast and pretty firm after the delay, too, so got a little tougher.”

Prior to the delay, the pair sat at 24-under, just a couple of shots off the lead. A strong finish would have put them in contention.

Instead, they missed a birdie chance on 11 right after the delay, and it was downhill from there.

“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,” McIlroy admitted.

They bogeyed 13, 15, and 17 and signed for an even par 72 to close out the tournament at 22-under, in a tie for 12th.

Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin Find PGA Tour Winner’s Circle

The final round of the Zurich Classic was full of drama. At one point down the stretch, any of four pairs were either tied or within a shot of the lead. It was anyone’s tournament to win. But it was Novak and Griffin that came out on top with some clutch play late.

While playing 17, the duo were tied for the lead at 27-under with the Hojgaard brothers. Then Griffin hit the putt of his life to ultimately proved the difference.

Griffin drained a 35-foot birdie to give the duo a lead they would not relinquish.

Thevictory for Novak and Griffin is the first in both of their professional careers. Afterwards, they detailed just how much the win means.

“I think for both Andrew and I, it felt like it was only a matter of time out here,” Griffin said after the win.

“We both put ourselves in the mix a bunch, especially this season, but even going back to last season. Yeah, just a lot of hard work between both of us, and for me personally, it means the world to finally get it paid off or to finally get it done. I couldn’t think of a better guy to get it done with, right here with Andrew.”

Indeed, both players have been close to their maiden PGA Tour wins several times.

Novak has been particularly close as of late. He lost in a playoff just one week ago at the RBC Heritage, where Justin Thomas snapped his three-year winless drought.

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