Rory McIlroy reveals what he told Shane Lowry the day after his colla… — and more

Shane Lowry’s collapse at the Cognizant Classic is one that can change the entire trajectory of his season.

With three holes to go, Lowry looked to be cruising to his first individual PGA Tour victory since 2019. He had a three-shot lead and had played all weekend impeccably. Then, disaster struck.

He hit the water with a three iron on 16 on his way to a double bogey, then sliced his tee shot into the water again on the par three 17. The Bear Trap, designed by Jack Nicklaus at PGA National, had claimed another victim.

Lowry lost the tournament by two shots, a five-shot swing over three holes. And how he responds to that will define his season.

No one knows how to rebound from bad results better than his good friend, Rory McIlroy, and the grand slam winner gave Lowry some key advice this week to help the Irishman bounce back.

Rory McIlroy reminded Shane Lowry about his 2014 season

Until last year, 2014 was undoubtedly the best season of McIlroy’s career. He won two majors, had three PGA Tour wins, and won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. But it could have gone very differently.

At the then-called Honda Classic at PGA National, McIlroy also fell into the Bear Trap. He blew a two-shot lead on the back nine before losing in a playoff to Russell Henley.

McIlroy rebounded to have an all-time great season, and he reminded Lowry of that in the week. Speaking before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Northern Irishman said, “I played golf with him on Monday morning. He was fine. He was in good spirits.

“I reminded him, I double-bogeyed the 16th at PGA National in 2014 to lose the tournament. And I went on to win two majors that year. So I was trying to, yeah, like, look, it’s one event, it was two bad holes, two bad swings.

“It doesn’t mean that the rest of the year’s going to be bad. Again, I had a horrible finish there in 2014 and ended up going on to have one of the best years of my career. So I just reminded him of that.”

It’s exactly what you’d want to hear if you were Lowry, so hopefully it gives him confidence heading into one of the most difficult events of the season at Bay Hill.

Shane Lowry learning from other sportspeople after Cognizant Classic

Lowry spoke about the Cognizant Classic before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and revealed that he has been getting calls from other sportspeople who have given their own experiences to him.

He said to Chantel McCabe, “It’s been tough, I’m not going to lie. Sunday night, I didn’t sleep at all, really. You go through all the scenarios in your head and the regrets you have, but you know, I’m very fortunate, I’ve got a great support network around me and I had some amazing people reach out to me after the 24 hours after that.

“People I look up to. I got one particular phone call off an Irish sportsperson who I really admire. He was very, very kind to me. I’m friendly with him and I know him pretty well, but to hear other people who have been in that situation, to hear their thoughts on it and learn from it is the biggest thing.

“Obviously, it’s very disappointing. It’s so hard to win on the PGA Tour, and I had a tournament in my hands, and I let it go. I’m going to have regrets over it in the days after that, but that’s where we put ourselves on the PGA Tour, playing on the best tour in the world on the toughest golf courses. I put myself out there, and unfortunately, I didn’t deliver.

“Hopefully, I can keep putting myself out there. I think that’s all I can do. If I keep putting myself there and try to focus on the positives out there. I think I played for a lot of the tournament, some of the best golf my whole career. I felt so in control out there, and one bad swing took it all away from me.

“But it is what it is, and we move on onwards and upwards.”

It’s extraordinary that Lowry has been able to recover mentally from the loss in less than a week, and hopefully, that puts him in good standing for a good result this week.

We asked for your thoughts after Wednesday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Chelsea.

Here are some of your comments:

Villa fans

Peter: Villa are in free fall. This is a worrying slide in form and looking like a top 5 finish is going to evade them. Injuries to key players have hurt us but Emery's stubbornness to change and stick with with out of form players is not helping.

Ian: Its been a good season up untill the last few games, there still in a champions league position.The question for Villa is can they pull together & bounce back ?

Mike: Another woeful performance full of misplaced passes and disjointed build up play. Really frustrating to see how easily we let them in behind our back four. For the third game running I felt the team we finished with should have been the team we started with. Emery really needs to fix this before our season fizzles out.

Kirk: So bored of watching Villa pass it around the defence, As a Villa fan I switched at half time to watch Newcastle's game, Wow what a difference an attack minded approach can give a team. Safe to say I didn't return for the 2nd half. Looks to me like Emery wants out.

Phillip: I don't think it was a bad Villa performance- we were on the wrong side of some tight decisions and were beaten by the better team on the night.

Rob: We've finally run out of gas - both as a team and as individuals. I think some players have reached their ceiling and need to be moved on so everyone can start fresh and unfortunately, hoping Ollie is going to play himself into form isn't going to happen. For everyone moaning how Arsenal parked the bus last night, that might not be a bad strategy at the moment if we go one-up as we did, especially while we wait for our midfield to return.

Chelsea fans

Ahmed: Traditionally Chelsea are always ahead of Villa unless otherwise the game isn't by their side. Statistically Chelsea always dominates Villa especially a t the Park, villa couldn't hold on after 1 goal up, Chelsea capitalised in the dominance game with one of the best performance in this campaign.

Congratulations to JP for your hat-trick, keep thriving.

Brendan: A better performance all round however still too much passing across the back four and too much involvement of our goalkeeper (s). We very nearly gifted them another goalkeeping error. We need to be more disciplined at the back and also be doing a lot more off the ball to create more forward passing opportunities. A very long way still to go.

Phil: Excellent all round performance after going a goal behind. Not comfortable with Fofana and would prefer to see Sarr play. Best game in a Chelsea shirt from both Pedro and Garnacho. We need to keep this up for the rest of the season

James: Just when I thought form was dipping they go and produce a performance like that! Pedro has proven a very astute signing, and if Chelsea can maintain this level top 4 is realistic.

Keith: A good away win and hopefully we can build on it, Garnacho, Hato and João Pedro excellent, but we've got big problems with our keeper's playing out from the back show's they are not up to it.

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Inter Milan striker Ange-Yoan Bonny has reportedly recovered from the upcoming Serie A clash against AC Milan.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport via FCInterNews, Cristian Chivu expects the Frenchman to resume training tomorrow.

Ange-Yoan Bonny suffered a minor fitness issue in a 2-0 home win over Genoa last weekend.

Therefore, Chivu was unable to call upon the 22-year-old for Tuesday’s dull 0-0 draw against Como in the Coppa Italia.

However, the former Parma starlet will be available for Sunday’s mouth-watering showdown at San Siro.

Bonny Recovers for AC Milan vs Inter Serie A Derby

MILAN, ITALY – DECEMBER 03: Ange-Yoan Bonny of FC Internazionale Milano celebrates scoring his team’s fifth goal during the Coppa Italia match between FC Internazionale and Venezia FC at San Siro Stadium on December 03, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

With Lautaro Martinez still working on his recovery, Chivu finds himself strapped for options in attack.

Indeed, Marcus Thuram has been out of form in 2026, while Francesco Pio Esposito has only scored four times in 25 league games.

Meanwhile, despite often starting on the bench, Bonny has tallied five goals and four assists in 22 Serie A outings.