SHANE Lowry joked ‘Put it on Rory’s tab’ as journalists at Pebble Beach were treated to free drinks after their respective hole-in-ones.
As if getting to cover a golf tournament in person isn’t a handy enough assignment, it’s tradition for any player that’s hit an ace that day to provide the media pack with complimentary drinks.
McIlroy celebrates his miracle shot during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am 2025 at Spyglass Hill[/caption]
Lowry found the cup from an admittedly short 106 yards out[/caption]
Shane quipped that Rory could cover the cost[/caption]
The only thing about Thursday was that BOTH Lowry and McIlroy managed the rare feat.
This gave the Offaly native the chance to land his pal in it when the question of who pays for the beers arose.
Gabby Herzig of The Athletic initially tweeted a photo of their cooler full of Budweiser and Amstel.
Alongside it she shared the grateful message: “The media thanks you guys for being good at golf. @McIlroyRory @ShaneLowryGolf”
That prompted Lowry to respond: “Chuck it on Rory’s tab.”
The good vibes didn’t end there either as Shane’s wife Wendy amusingly poked fun at the pair of Irish golfing icons.
On Instagram she slagged them with a take on the Paul Rudd ‘Hey, look at us. How did we get here?’ meme.
First up at Pebble Beach was Rory who hit a perfect tee shot on the 15th.
That was swiftly imitated by Lowry on the 7th.
Somewhat surprisingly, that was only the third ace of McIlroy’s career with Lowry now also sitting on that same all-time total.
Both men were naturally in buoyant mood after completing their opening rounds on Thursday.
On Twitter, Shane shared fan footage of his highlight with the caption: “These lads enjoyed my hole-in-one more than me!”
The $20m ‘Signature’ tournament is the Down native’s first start of the American Tour’s season.
45 of the top 50 players in the world are in action at the event which is played over two courses.
The iconic Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill make up the tracks for the tournament which has no cut.
Prior to his maiden PGA Tour ace, the world number three bagged a hole-in-one at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in 2015 on the DP World Tour.
The winner of the second ‘Signature’ event of the season will bag $3.8m from the $20m purse.
Overall, Russell Henley leads the way after day one on eight-under.
The parallels in Lowry and McIlroy’s play across the day extended to their scores as they’re in a tie for 8th having both carded six-under par.
Elsewhere, Brandon Robinson-Thompson fell just short of only the second 59 in DP World Tour history.
The 32-year-old Englishman hit two eagles and three birdies on the front nine of the Bahrain Championship.
A further birdie flurry left him needing one more at the last but he dropped his only shot of the day for an 11-under-par 61, still a course record.
