That meant the defending champions, Rory McIlroy, who won the 2025 Masters less than two weeks ago to complete the career Grand Slam, and his partner, Shane Lowry, could be aggressive from the start.

It's never a good thing to have too many swing thoughts in your head over the ball. It's even worse when they're of the negative variety. This is true even among the best players in the world, something we saw play out on Wednesday at the Zurich Classic.

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry started their Zurich Classic of New Orleans title defense with a composed performance on Thursday. This PGA Tour event has