For the second consecutive year, Shane Lowry contended at the Masters only to fall short on Sunday and watch his good friend Rory McIlroy slip on the green jacket.
But unlike last year, when Lowry celebrated McIlroy’s victory in style, a “down and dejected” Lowry couldn’t stomach the party aftet this year’s final round. He broke the news to the now two-time Masters champion via text message, as he revealed to Golf Channel on Thursday.
Why Shane Lowry didn’t party with Rory McIlroy on Masters Sunday
Heading into the final round of the 2026 Masters, Lowry was at nine under and just two shots behind co-leaders McIlroy and Cameron Young.
But in a grim replay of last year’s Masters, Lowry struggled mightily on Sunday at Augusta National, shooting 80 to fall to one under and a T30 finish.
It was one shot better than he did last year. Also in contention on Sunday at the 2025 Masters, Lowry shot a final-round 81 to finish T42.
Though he was able to stifle his pride and celebrate McIlroy’s first Augusta victory, this year the wounds hurt too much, as he explained to Golf Channel Thursday at the RBC Heritage.
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“Obviously, you know the stories from last year. I called over to his house with a case of wine and all that,” Lowry began.
Lowry did hang around the Augusta clubhouse to give McIlroy a hug following his win. But feeling “dejected” after his second Sunday collapse, he later texted McIlroy to tell him not to expect him at the celebrations.
“I texted him on Sunday night, and I said, ‘Honestly, I’m so happy for you, but I don’t have it in me tonight to go over and celebrate’,” Lowry said.
Instead, he stayed at home to once again imagine what could have been.
“I was feeling a bit down and dejected a little bit, so I just stayed at home with my crew, but I’ll see him in a couple of weeks in Florida.”
“I felt like I played a lot of good golf last week and got really nothing out of it,” Lowry continued. “It’s always hard to do that when you prepare so much for a tournament like that and perform as good as I did for a few days. But I try to take as many positives as I can.”
The Masters meltdown was not Lowry’s first this year. He held a three-shot lead late on Sunday at the 2026 Cognizant Classic, then made double bogeys at 16 and 17 to hand the victory to Nico Echavarria.
“This game has given me a lot of punches in the gut this year,” Lowry said Thursday. “It’s testing me a little bit, but, you know, I’m not going to stop working hard. I’m not going to give up, and I’m going to give my best for as long as I may be playing this game.”
Though he admitted that “Thursday came around pretty quickly this week” after a “tough few days,” Lowry managed a one-under 70 on the opening round of the RBC Heritage.
“I feel like it was always gonna be a tough enough round to get my kind of mojo back, and I felt like I played nice today,” Lowry said.
So Lowry plows ahead hoping that if he keeps knocking on the door, eventually he’ll end his individual PGA Tour winless streak, which dates back to his emotional win at the 2019 Open Championship.
