Silent Lowry and buoyed McIlroy head for Quail Hollow

One Irish golfer finished seventh in Philadelphia and heads to the second major of the year in good spirits, the other finished second and looked absolutely shattered leaving the course.

Shane Lowry came up agonisingly short in what became a matchplay showdown with final round playing partner Sepp Straka, bogeying two of the last three holes as the Austrian held his nerve.

The Clara man has expressed his desire before that golfers be given time before speaking to the media after a round, but he declined to meet the press after this gut-wrenching defeat.

There will be consolation in moving into the top ten of the golf world rankings for the first time, not to mention the $1.76m (€1.58m) in prizemoney, but PGA officials confirmed to media on site that the 38-year-old would not be conducting media duties at Philadelphia Cricket Club.

While he will have to rake over the coals of this loss in the build-up to this week's US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, his good friend Rory McIlroy is heading to one of his favourite courses in fine fettle.

The five-time major winner tied for seventh at 10 under par at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, six shots off Straka's winning score.

McIlroy said entering the week that he was "excited to get back to being a golfer" and figure out where his game is at entering the second major of the year, the PGA Championship. Consider that task complete.

"I think I'm in a good place," the Down golfer said Sunday. "I didn't feel like I played all that well this week, I still finished seventh. Even my... what I feel is my bad golf, I'm still there or thereabouts.

"A couple little improvements and little tweaks, especially going to a place I love like Quail Hollow, and I feel like I'm in a really good spot."

McIlroy shot in red figures all week, capped by Sunday's two-under 68, with 16 pars and two birdies. He did not make a bogey or worse over his final 28 holes of the tournament, but thought he missed several chances to climb the leaderboard.

"Overall I felt like I got a little better as the week went on, played good," McIlroy (above, with Tony Finau) said. "As you said, bogey-free. I wish I'd made a few more birdies. I've got a better gauge of where my game is standing here right now than I did at the start of the week. It was a good week for that.

"I wish I had gotten myself into contention a little bit more, but it was a good week, especially looking ahead to next week."

McIlroy birdied the first hole Sunday but had to scramble for pars the rest of the front nine, mainly due to wayward drives. He hit only five fairways in regulation out of 14, following a surprising 3-for-14 performance on Saturday.

McIlroy theorised that wide-open fairways at the club's Wissahickon Course may have actually thrown him off.

"I sort of struggled with this in Houston as well, whenever we get these big, wide-open golf courses where there's not a ton of definition," he said. "I think I would have hit more fairways if it had been tree lined. I felt like I drove it a little better on the back nine today, which was good."

He won't have to worry about course fit at the PGA Championship. Quail Hollow Club usually hosts the Truist Championship (formerly called the Wells Fargo Championship). McIlroy has won at Quail Hollow four times, including last year.

His fans were out in full force weeks after his historic Masters win. McIlroy was the most popular player on the property all week, and children screamed for his autograph as he concluded his media duties.

"They're very enthusiastic," McIlroy said of the Philadelphia fans. "They're loud. They're relentless in terms of like... I must have heard my name a million times this week."

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