MARANA (Arizona), Feb 22: A stunning first-round loss at the World Golf Championships Match Play Championship on Thursday left world number one Rory McIlroy pondering how to turn around his poor 2013 form.

Ireland`s Shane Lowry, an old friend of the Northern Irishman from their amateur days, defeated the two-times major winner 1-up with the aid of chip-ins at the 11th and 12th holes at Dove Mountain, and an eagle on the par-five 13th, where he hit a fairway wood from 258 yards to five feet.

`I didn`t make enough birdies in the end,` said McIlroy, who missed the cut at the European Tour event in Abu Dhabi last month in his only other start this season.

`Shane had a nice little stretch around part of the back nine. I hung in there, but I just didn`t do enough.

McIlroy said his iron play let him down, but he did not seem to think it had to do with his highly publicized switch to Nike equipment.`I`ve just been missing a lot of them right.... I think it`s more a timing thing than anything else,` he said.

`I felt like I drew the ball really well,` he added.

`I hit the ball well off the tee. I just need to take advantage of the driving I`ve been doing.

While Lowry, the 64th-seed in the 64-man field, said he knew `deep down`that he could beat McIlroy, he admitted he was nervous playing the first fewholes despite their friendship.

`It was much easier for me to play against Rory than it would have been playing against Tiger (Woods), purely because I just know Rory so well,` said Lowry, who had dinner with McIlroy earlier in the week.

`It was quite easy that way, but still quite nerve-wracking on the first tee.

Despite their friendship, there was little small talk as the match progressed.

`There wasn`t that much chatter,` McIlroy said.

`We were kind of chatting the first few holes and then it was getting pretty tight around the turn, and the back nine there wasn`t much talk out there.

Lowry added: `I tried to keep it that way.`-AFP