“Shane’s been one of my biggest advocates,” said a grateful Rory McIlroy in an interview with the Irish Independent. He was alluding to friend and fellow PGA Tour Pro Shane Lowry, whom he has known for over two decades. A companion would usually be present for the most important days of his friend’s life. However, the same wasn’t the case with the 37-year-old athlete, who missed the 4-time major champ’s wedding.

McIlroy met Erica Stoll during the 2012 Ryder Cup, following which they started dating in 2014, got engaged in 2015, and subsequently married in 2017. Although the ceremony wasn’t too much of a public affair owing to the golfer’s partner preferring it that way, many from the golfing community were invited, including the likes of Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Thomas Bjorn, Martin Kaymer, and Padraig Harrington.

Lowry, unfortunately, couldn’t attend the ceremony that was held at the 13th-century Ashford Castle in Ireland. The reason? Well, according to the Irish Independent, the golfer skipped his friend’s special ceremony to attend his grandmother’s 80th birthday, a date which coincided with McIlroy’s wedding. However, that didn’t mean the two had fallen out with each other owing to the same.

The 1-time major champ, on the other hand, had made sure to convey his wishes and admiration for the 4-time major champ and his wife, Erica Stoll. He did so while complimenting them for keeping the ceremony a private one. “Speaking to the two of them in the weeks leading up to it,” said Lowry as he recounted, “I think they were both getting quite stressed about it… Erica very much keeps herself to herself and she’s not into being out there at all and I think that’s the way they wanted to keep the wedding, so fair play to them.”

That’s not all. The 3-time PGA Tour champ even went ahead to further support his friend Rory McIlroy’s decision to spend the day with just his friends and family. ” I think you should be allowed to do that as well,” expressed Lowry, “Rory does enough for charity and enough for people and I think he gives enough back that I think he should be allowed to do that.” Well, it appears the two athletes haven’t had any falling out with each other due to the 37-year-old not attending his ceremony. That’s not all. They even joined hands this season to emerge victorious on the PGA Tour.

Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy’s friendship wins them a trophy

The two athletes paired up with each other to play the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The duo initially could only tie with Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer’s group with a score of 25-under. Fortunately, they were able to win the playoff hole (par-5, 18th) owing to the bogey their opponents hit. This, in turn, allowed the Irishmen to card their first PGA Tour win of the season.

Looking back, even the story behind their pairing up to play the event was surprising. When queried about the same by Claire Rogers, the 35-year-old replied, “I asked him. You know, it was actually, we had this, like, really drunken lunch after the Ryder Cup last year, the week after and I said to him, ‘You want to play Zurich together?, so we’re like ‘Yeah’.” As impromptu as it might have seemed, the decision to play with each other came as nothing short of the best decision, seeing as how they won the event!