The Irish duo raced to eight-under par with five holes to play in the opening fourballs at TPC Louisiana before both found water from the tee at the sixth, their 15th hole, and made bogey.
While Masters champion McIlroy birdied the par-five seventh, an eight-under 64 left them outside the top 15 and six shots behind early pacesetters Isiah Salinda and Kevin Velo.
McIlroy was still pleased to be announced as the Masters champion on his return to work.
“Yeah, I was glad they remembered The Players as well in there,” he quipped. “It seems like a distant memory at this point. Look, very nice. I could get used to it.”
McIlroy was slow out of the blocks after his Masters efforts and Lowry did most of the early scoring.
The Offaly man followed a chip-in birdie at the 10th with three more front-nine birdies to help them turn in four-under.
McIlroy came alive after the turn, making a 20-footer for birdie at the first and a 10-footer for an eagle three at the second before Lowry birdied the fourth.
“Shane joked I could have got a couple of extra hours in bed if I wanted to,” McIlroy said. “But yeah, I played a bit better coming in.
“We felt like we left a few shots out there, but we were just saying the two foursomes days on Friday and Sunday are the important days in this tournament, and it’s important for us to obviously post a good score tomorrow [Friday].”
Lowry added: “It was one of those days where you do want to go low, but like Rory mentioned, I think the two foursomes days in this tournament are huge.”
Salinda and Velo made an eagle and 12 birdies in a 14-under 58 to lead by a shot from Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard.
Meanwhile, Korea’s Haeran Ryu and China’s Yan Liu fired seven-under 65s to set the early pace in the opening women’s major, the Chevron Championship, as defending champion Nelly Korda struggled to a 77 at Carlton Woods in Texas.
In the Hainan Open, China’s Haotong Li shot a six-under 66 to share the lead with Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat before play was suspended due to lightning.
Zurich Classic of New Orleans,
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The Chevron Championship
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