Rory McIlroy has explained his decision to take a week off after the Northern Irishman and Shane Lowry tied for 12th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday.
The duo went into the final day five strokes behind Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin, who went on to secure glory.
But McIlroy and Lowry struggled, with the pair forced to settle for 12th after finishing six shots behind their American rivals.
It was McIlroy's first tournament since winning the Masters at Augusta on April 13.
Rory McIlroy has explained his decision to take a week off after the Northern Irishman and Shane Lowry tied for 12th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday
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Both the 35-year-old and Lowry, 38, will skip the CJ Cup Bryon Nelson this week before returning for the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club.
McIlroy, looking back on his performances in New Orleans, reacted by saying: “Yeah, it's been a fun week.
“I think when we went back out after the delay, we felt like we still had a good chance, and we didn't make birdie on 11, and then we bogeyed 13 again for the second time this week.
“Yeah, just didn't really have any momentum from when we started back up again, and it was difficult to just sort of get anything.
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“Overall, it's been a good week. It's always good to team up with this man. We've had fun.”
McIlroy then explained his decision to take a week off from golf. He continued: “I've got to just take a little bit of time here.
“It's nice to have a week off, and reset and try to get some practice in.
“I feel like it's like two practice weeks coming up in a way with next week at home and then Truist, as well, in some ways.
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Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry could only tie for 12th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
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“Yeah, I'm looking forward to a couple of days off and then sort of kicking the feet up and trying to recharge the batteries a little bit.”
As for Lowry, the 38-year-old insisted he was pleased with the duo's performances at the event - despite their failure to retain the title they won last year.
“I think we played all right, just today nothing really happened for us, and then after the delay, everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he stated.
“I had a great week. I'm happy my man came here this week, and we had a great time, and it was fun.”
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Meanwhile, both Griffin and Novak were delighted with their triumph on Sunday as they claimed the first PGA title of their careers.
Griffin said: “I think for both Andrew and I, it felt like it was only a matter of time out here.
“We both put ourselves in the mix a bunch, especially this season, but even going back to last season.
"Yeah, just a lot of hard work between both of us, and for me personally, it means the world to finally get it paid off or to finally get it done.
Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
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"I couldn’t think of a better guy to get it done with, right here with Andrew.
“You’ve got to stay aggressive down the stretch. That was huge for us [on 17]. Eighteen, it’s still not the easiest finishing hole when you’re trying to lock up a Tour win. So really proud of the way we both executed shots on 18.”
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