Rory McIlroy announces PGA Tour first as he teams with Shane Lowry for Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Rory McIlroy will team up with Shane Lowry as the four-time major champion prepares to make his bow at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans next month.

The 34-year-old will be in action three times in April as he is set to compete at the Valero Texas Open next week, with the Northern Irishman then aiming to compete a career grand slam at The Masters a week later at Augusta.

The Zurich Classic will tee off at TPC Louisiana on April 25 and end on April 28. The event is the PGA Tour's only team event after being played as a solo event up until 2017.

Both Lowry and McIlroy are well accustomed to team events, having played on the last two European Ryder Cup teams together. McIlroy has featured in every Ryder Cup since 2010 and scored four out of a possible five points for Europe at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Italy as former world number one Luke Donald captained Europe to victory over the United States last September.

Lowry has played the Zurich Classic four times, most recently teaming up with Englishman Ian Poulter in the 2022 event.

“I asked him [to play],” McIlroy told GOLF.com of his decision to team up with Lowry. “You know it was actually, we had this really drunken lunch after the Ryder Cup last year, and I said after, ‘You wanna play the Zurich together?’ And we were like, yeah, let’s do it.”

Steve Worthy, chief executive of the Fore!Kids Foundation, which runs the tournament in New Orleans, added: "Both of these players have competed for Europe in Ryder Cup competition, so they are very accustomed to team play.

"It's always fun to see close friends partner in our unique format, and with their experience they will be both fan and on-course favourites."

The Zurich Classic has similarities to the Ryder Cup in that teams will play in fourballs and foursomes formats, but the event is team stroke play as compared to match play in the Ryder Cup. Rounds one and three are in the fourball format, which means each player uses their own ball and the best score between two teammates is recorded for each hole.

The foursomes format, which will be used in rounds two and four, has just one ball in play between a two-man team, with players taking alternating tee shots so each player starts off nine holes each and alternating shots afterwards.