RORY MCILROY and Shane Lowry reflected after a frustrating second round at the Zurich Classic. The world number two is fresh from the historic major Grand Slam success at Augusta National after a playoff win over Justin Rose saw him claim the green jacket. It's McIlroy's first tournament since his Grand Slam success as he joined his pal Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. But the pair found themselves six shots off the lead at the weekend cut mark ahead of their third round at TPC Avondale. The defending champions finished their round in the day-two foursomes format with back-to-back bogeys to drop them into a nine-way tie for 16th place. They carded a three-under par round of 69, American duo Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo continue to lead the way although after they too shot 69 on Friday a day after their stunning record 14-under 58 in the fourballs. And ahead of Saturday's best ball format, McIlroy admitted it's going to be hard to get back into contention. Speaking to the media after their round, McIlroy said: "It's hard to not think [that] we were six under through 12, cruising, and then a bit of a bad finish. "But it didn't feel like we played that badly to have the finish that we did. A couple of loose shots here and there. "It's hard. [Saturday] it will be hard to be patient because the fourball format you just have to try and make as many birdies as you can. "We know that we are really good at the foursomes format, we showed that today for the most part, so if we can climb back into contention within a few shots of the lead going into Sunday we feel like we'll be in a good position." Partner Lowry also admitted that they 'left shots out there' as they faltered on the final couple of holes. Lowry added: "We're obviously disappointed. I feel like 11 under is the worst score we could be for two days right now with our finish yesterday and today. "But I feel like if we can go low [on Saturday] and get into the 20s under par and get after it then on Sunday. "Like we showed today, foursomes is our thing and we can make ground on the field there." All the action is live on Sky Sports Golf.