Rory McIlroy explains ‘falling out’ with Shane Lowry that lasted a few years

"It got a bit messy for a couple of years."

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are friends, but the Irish golfers had a period where they weren't as close. According to McIlroy, the pair drifted apart for a few years after the Northern Irish golfer left the Horizon management company in 2013. Lowry and McIlroy, however, patched up their relationship a few years later and are closer than ever now that they both live in Florida in the United States. "I would say (his relationship with Lowry) very close early on, not-so-close in the middle, and closer than ever now," McIlroy told Paul Kimmage in The Sunday Independent in a wide-ranging interview. "So, super close at that point. Then I had a fall-out with Horizon in 2013 and it got a bit messy for a couple of years, not because one of us had done wrong to the other, but because of the circumstances." McIlroy, however, said that he and Lowry sorted their differences in 2015 and that they are now closer than ever Erica, McIlroy's wife, is friends with Lowry's wife Wendy and their children are around the same age. McIlroy and Lowry both live in Florida. "The BBC Sports Personality of the Year (awards) was in Belfast, and we went for a few drinks afterwards and had a really good chat," McIlroy said. "So it’s really since he started playing here that we’ve got close again. Erica and Wendy get on great, and our kids are a similar age. "It’s all good. And do you know what it was over? Money, exactly. It is the root of all evil." Related links.

• Shane Lowry on his Tuesday duels with Rory McIlroy at The Bear's Club.
• "You've won enough!" - Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy embrace after Wentworth nerve-shredder.
• Shane Lowry on The Bear's Club, Rory McIlroy and who won their money match.