Brooks Koepka’s new collaboration may surprise you. You shouldn’t

If you’ve been pining for a break from the slog of stroke-play events on the PGA Tour schedule, this is the week for you.

On Thursday, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans begins at TPC Louisiana, with two-man singles in the first and third rounds, and foursomes in the second and final rounds. Most of the band’s origin stories don’t need much explanation: Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick? Brothers! Jacob Skov Olesen and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen? My fellow Danes! Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak? Defending champions! But there’s at least one partnership that might give you a moment: Brooks Koepka and . . . Shane Lowry?

Lowry gets it.

“From the outside it may not seem logical,” he said at Wednesday’s competition, his unusual teammates by his side, “but, you know, for us it happens.”

It might he appeared absurd things because we’re used to seeing Lowry and Koepka lock horns rather than leaning on each other. They have never faced each other in a Ryder Cup match, but have played twice in the same Ryder Cup, including a controversial edition outside Rome in 2023. That was the week when Day 2 of play culminated with Lowry and the rest of Europe teasing Patrick Cantlay’s caddy, Joe LaCava, on the 18th green. That tension spilled over into the parking lot where Lowry had to hold McIlroy back from hitting Justin Thomas, Jim “Bones” Mackay – and further mischief at the team hotel where McIlroy allegedly entered with Koepka’s teammate Ricky Elliott.

None of this is to say that Lowry has harbored any beef with Koepka or vice versa, but given the history between their camps (or at least their continents), it’s still somewhat surprising to see them sync up.

However, Ryder Cup contenders can quickly evaporate under the warm South Florida sun, especially on Jupiter Island where palm trees are overtaken by multimillionaire Tour pros. Patrol the Bear’s Club, Medalist or Old Palm any time on a Tuesday morning during the week and you might see a collection of brand name professionals from both sides of the Atlantic enjoying each other’s company, if not taking each other’s money.

“Everybody plays the same golf courses, so we see a lot of each other every day,” Koepka said Wednesday. “Not a day goes by that I don’t see a guy out here, so there’s always conversation. There’s always people talking, having lunch, doing whatever, working out together. It happens more often than I think people realize.”

Also on the list of Tour-pro favorites in the area is Michael Jordan’s swank club, Grove XXIII, where Lowry and Koepka played a round a few months back – and where Lowry popped the question.

“I said to him, ‘I might need a New Orleans partner,'” Lowry said. “He goes, ‘Well, I’ll have to play there.’ And so it was.”

Lowry has played with McIlroy in the past two Zurichs (they won together in 2024), but when McIlroy bowed out at this year’s event, Lowry needed a date. Koepka, on the other hand, just needed to start. Since returning in January from LIV Golf to the PGA Tour, he has lacked the required FedEx points to qualify for Signature Events; he hopes, with the help of Lowry, to improve his situation this week.

Lowry’s relationship with Koepka extends beyond the borders of South Florida. They first got to know each other in 2012 and 13 when Koepka cut his teeth on the DP World Tour. Lowry has known Elliot, Koepka’s looper, even longer. When Lowry won the Open Championship in 2019, Elliott, from Portrush, was among a crowd of well-wishers waiting to congratulate Lowry on the 18th green.

A few weeks after Lowry and Koepka’s round at the Grove, Lowry sent a follow-up note to both Elliott and Koepka to make sure they were still going to Zurich. But Lowry said he didn’t have a firm commitment to Koepka until he met with him a few weeks later.

“I said, ‘We’re going to put it together in New Orleans?'” Lowry said. “He said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’

Sharp bettors like Lowry and Koepka this week, placing their odds behind favorites Matt Fitzpatrick, who won twice last month, and his brother Alex, who won the DP World Tour’s Hero Indian Open last month. And on paper Lowry and Koepka look like a good match.

Lowry is accurate off the tee and can use the ball in both directions. (“My job is to try to hit it in the fairway,” Lowry said.) Koepka’s iron game is almost comparable (he’s second in SG: Approaches). And Lowry has been holing putts (31st in SG: Putting).

The setting suits their eyes, too. “I like the way we go, he hits some holes and I hit other holes,” said Koepka. “Everyone feels comfortable in the holes we are going to play.” Koepka added, “And it’s the best team in this whole thing, he’s been playing well, so let him go and do it for him and get out of the way.”

Lowry feels pretty good about his partner, too.

“He’s Brooks Koepka,” Lowry said. “You have five advanced degrees. You know what I mean?”