Shane Lowry has admitted he was not in the mood to party with Rory McIlroy following the Northern Irishman's second successive Masters victory.
Lowry began the day just two strokes behind his close friend but a final round 80 saw him plummet down the leaderboard for a T30th finish. His disastrous Sunday, which included three double bogeys and five bogeys, saw him lose around $900,000 in prize money.
The Irishman is straight back on the horse at this week's RBC Heritage, where he spoke to the Golf Channel and explained why he didn't join McIlroy for celebrations this time around.
“I woke up this morning, and I felt like Thursday came around pretty quickly this week,” he said. “It's been a tough few days.
“You know, I felt like I played a lot of good golf last week and got really nothing out of it.
“It’s always hard to do that when you prepare so much for a tournament like that and perform as good as I did for a few days. But I try to take as many positives as I can.
"And today, I feel like it was always gonna be a tough enough round to get my kind of mojo back, and I felt like I played nice today [one-under-par 71].”
Lowry waited by the Augusta clubhouse and was the first player McIlroy embraced after his back-to-back victory, but revealed he was "dejected" after what was a very disappointing Sunday.
“Obviously, you know the stories from last year. I called over to his house with a case of wine and all that,” Lowry said.
“I texted him on Sunday night, and I said, ‘Honestly, I'm so happy for you, but I don't have it in me tonight to go over and celebrate’.
“I was feeling a bit down and dejected a little bit, so I just stayed at home with my crew, but I'll see him in a couple of weeks in Florida.”
The Ryder Cup star has played some great golf this year so far but it has been a tough one, with difficult defeats at both the Dubai Invitational and Cognizant Classic prior to his Masters collapse.
“This game has given me a lot of punches in the gut this year,” he admitted.
“It’s testing me a little bit, but, you know, I'm not going to stop working hard.
“I'm not going to give up, and I'm going to give my best for as long as I may be playing this game.”
