Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry secure play-off victory in New Orleans

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event.

The Irish pair needed to win a play-off to secure the tournament, having finished level with Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer on 25-under at the end of the final round.

McIlroy and Lowry needed a birdie in regulation on the final hole to match the clubhouse leaders and the Offaly man made the most of a superb chip on to the 18th green by his partner by sinking a birdie putt, extending the contest.

Ramey and Trainer had been among the early starters, powering 26 places up the leaderboard with a round of 63 that included seven birdies on the back nine, but the near three-hour wait to see if their score would hold up saw them come into the play-off looking rusty.

And after Ramey pulled his second shot left and on to a road, Trainer came up short in his effort to reach the green.

That gave Ryder Cup team-mates McIlroy and Lowry the advantage despite the latter having found sand with his second shot, but after Lowry missed a putt for par, they needed Trainer to narrowly miss his own putt to confirm their win.

"It’s absolutely amazing," McIlroy said on CBS Sports. "We’ve had an awesome week here in New Orleans. The crowds have been absolutely amazing, to get the support we’ve had out there. We’ve had so much fun while doing it and it’s just a bonus to win at the end.

"It couldn’t be better than to do it with this man alongside me."

Lowry added: "It’s great. It felt much-needed. Coming into the week we felt we could do with a big jump for the FedEx Cup, let’s get 400 points each and that’s what we’ve done.

"I feel a little bit bad taking them because Rory carried me, but I’m taking them."

The win was McIlroy's 25th PGA Tour win, while it was Lowry's first on