Rory McIlroy told what he needs to do with Shane Lowry after £1.3million anguish

Rory McIlroy has been urged to rally around Shane Lowry after a couple of costly bogeys led to him . Despite entering the final round tied for the lead with European colleague Sepp Straka, Lowry's errors towards the end allowed Straka to seize the moment and notch up his fourth win.

The sting of not securing his first solo PGA Tour victory in six years was compounded by losing out on the £2.7million winner's purse. Instead, the Irish golfer took home £1.34m for his joint-second finish with Justin Thomas, a hefty £1.38m difference due to his putting woes in the last round. , who placed seventh, pocketed £507,000 from the event. With this week's PGA Championship offering a chance for redemption, English golf coach Simon Holmes suggests that McIlroy should be there for his friend, particularly considering Lowry's support during McIlroy's own pre-Masters challenges.

"He needs probably to hang out with Rory for a bit and digest it," Holmes said. "But Shane made some unforgivable mistakes. He is a very tough guy on himself which means he will bounce back quickly but he will be super upset with himself, to become such a foregone conclusion by whacking it through that break on 18 and three-putting.

"The putting needs a stroke a day better. There are a few opportunities there that he is missing and the top 15 guys that he is chasing aren't missing those opportunities as often as he is missing them. That is the place he has to improve."

Before the final round at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Lowry shared with the that he has learned a valuable lesson from McIlroy's recent Masters win. "I just think you need to be persistent," Lowry stated. "You need to keep putting yourself there, and eventually it will happen. You look at Rory at the Masters a few weeks ago. Keep knocking on the door, and eventually, you'll go through it."

McIlroy has praised Lowry's decision to relocate to Florida in 2019, noting that it has made him a more consistent player due to the abundant golf resources available. "Yeah, look, I've seen a huge difference since, since he, you know, started living over here full time," the five-time major champion observed.

"You know, we practice, we play so much together at home, and I think just, you know, the back and forth from Ireland is tough, and you know, even this time of the year, it's still hard to practice over there.

"And so I just feel like I've seen such a such a big improvement in his consistency week to week, because, you know, of where he lives, being able to practice in great conditions on great golf courses, getting games with the likes of myself or Rickie [Fowler] or JT (Justin Thomas), or whoever lives out in Jupiter.

"It's been amazing that I know, as his friend, to see him play so well and so consistently, and I'm going to hang around here and hopefully see him get the job done."