Winning the Ryder Cup might have been more valuable than Rory McIlroy realized.
McIlroy already was emotionally and physically spent from Europe beating the Americans in Rome for a seventh straight time on home soil — and from the celebration into the next morning before flying home with Shane Lowry and their wives.
Turns out the party wasn’t over just yet.
McIlroy sent Lowry a text the following day inviting him over to lunch. That turned into dinner, with a couple of bottles of wine in between, and visits from a few South Florida neighbors in Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and Michael Jordan.
McIlroy called it a “ drunken lunch.” Somewhere along the way, whether it was the wine or the aftermath of Ryder Cup euphoria, he asked Lowry if he wanted to play in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the PGA Tour’s only official team event.
Equally surprising, McIlroy remembered.
I've been hit with 40 driving penalties in London
3 jailed for Hong Kong's priciest art heist, after selling billion
China's Xi Jinping delivers unexpected speech at UN hours after US President Joe Biden speaks
Storms damage homes in Oklahoma and Kansas. But in Houston, most power is restored
Xi Jinping arrives in Hong Kong for July 1 celebrations, makes first visit to city since 2017
Strictly star Giovanni Pernice's former partner Rose Ayling
You're sure of a warm welcome along the awe
Four people killed in a house explosion in southwestern Missouri
Do you live near one? Interactive map reveals the locations of England's 400,000 heritage sites