Lowry move to career-high world No 14
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry didn't have their best stuff, but they can head for The Players and the countdown to the Masters with high hopes after the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Lowry was far from his best from the tee as he searches for a new driver but while he couldn’t covert the 36-hole lead into victory for the second year running, he still shot 70 to finish solo seventh, five shots behind winner Russell Henley, to climb three spots to a career-high of 14th in the world.
Georgia native Henley produced a remarkable back nine charge and followed birdies at the 12th and 14th with a pitch-in eagle from deep rough at the 16th to shoot a two-under 70 to pip overnight leader Collin Morikawa, who shot 72, by a shot on 11-under-par to jump to seventh in the world.
Lowry was a lowly 41st for strokes gained from the tee but he ranked in the top 20 for his iron play and chipping and an encouraging ninth for putting.
McIlroy also had his struggles from the tee at Bay Hill, where he put a new driver and fairway woods in the bag and struggled to find fairways.
But he returned to his old equipment for the final round and shot 72 to finish tied for 15th on three-under.
"I tried new woods for the first three days, didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to, so I went back to my old stuff today," said McIlroy, who lost 5.5 strokes with the driver to top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, who tied for 11th after a 70 despite having a nightmare week on the greens.
"I led strokes gained off the tee in both Pebble and Torrey, so it was a really good idea to change," McIlroy chuckled.
"And then yesterday, I lost strokes off the tee, which is the first time I've done that in a long time. So I just went back to what was familiar and what's comfortable.
"I felt like I was just scrambling all weekend, just trying to save par and pick up the odd birdie here and there."
McIlroy is not reading too much into his performance heading to Sawgrass, which promises to be a far different test.
But while he plans to head to Augusta National ahead of the Masters, he has yet to decide which Texas event he will add to his schedule as his final warm-up event.
"I'll see how next week goes and then see what I feel like and what I think I need," he said of the choice between Houston and San Antonio.
"But the nice thing is I don't have to enter until the Friday before."
As for Augusta, he's keen to see how the course has changed since it suffered tree damage last October
"I think it's just going to be a little bit different this year, just with there's some areas of the course that are maybe a little thinner tree-wise, just with the hurricane that rolled through," he said. "16's a new green. So, yeah, I'll probably go up there once or twice beforehand."
As for his club changes, he added it was an occupational hazard when it comes to putting the latest technology in his bag and wasn’t fully prepared to use the new weapons in tournament play.
"There's pros and cons to it, and it's a blessing and a curse at the same time that we sort of have to go through these 12-month club cycles," McIlroy said.
Meanwhile, Australia's Karl Vilips (23) closed with an eight-under 64 to win the Puerto Rico Open by three shots from Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (63) on 26-under.
Max Kennedy tied for 70th on six-under after a 74, while Pádraig Harrington's one-under 70 left him joint sixth in the Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club in Tucson.
He finished three shots outside a playoff that saw New Zealander Steven Alker beat American Jason Caron with a birdie at the first extra hole after they shot 66s to tie on 12-under.
