Shane Lowry told Rory McIlroy’s wife Erica Stoll that her husband can retire on the spot after winning the Masters.

Lowry is a close friend and has revealed a chat he shared with Stoll at the end of last week’s major.

“This means everything to him. It’s all he thinks about,” the Irishman told the Golf Channel. “It’s all he talks about, all he thinks about. He always said to me he would retire a happy man if he won the green jacket. So I told Erica, ‘He can retire now’.

“He’s had a long ten years, 11 years. He’s had a lot of hurdles, he’s had a lot of moments to get back up from. It’s kind of a credit to him.

"It’s a sign or something for the rest of us to cling onto that no matter what happens, no matter how bad you feel, you just need to keep going, keep working hard and your day will come.”