Lowry accepts tough two shot penalty with great magnanimity

HIT with a brutally tough two shot penalty during Friday's British Open second round at Royal Portrush, Shane Lowry won admirers everywhere for the magnanimity and manner in which he accepted the punishment.

The Clara golfer was on the 15^th hole when he was told by a rules official that he was under investigation for an inadvertent infraction on the 12^th when his ball appeared to move during a practice swing in the rough.

Playing alongside the leader, Scottie Scheffler and Colin Morikawa, Lowry had an opportunity to look at the footage himself after the round before signing his scorecard.

After this, he was handed a two shot penalty for causing his ball to move and the impact on his tournament was potentially catastrophic. It turned a par five on the 12^th into a double bogey seven and meant that he went from two under par overall to level par, just squeezing into the weekend inside the cut mark. It means that he is now 10 strokes behind a rampant Scheffler and needs to shoot the lights out in the third round today to get into contention at the venue where he pulled off such a stunning triumph in 2019.

The way Lowry dealt with the news on the course and kept playing composed golf was remarkable. He immediately knew the ramifications of a two shot penalty, the likelihood that it would be enforced and how precariously close it all put him to the +1 cut line. Instead, he got a birdie three on the 15^th and parred 16, 17 and 18.

The words he spoke and the way he took the penalty on the chin afterwards was exemplary. In a statement afterwards, the R and A said: “ It was clear that the ball moved immediately after the player's club touched foliage close to the ball during a practice swing and that the player's actions caused the ball to move.”

Had Lowry noticed the ball moving in real time, he would have been allowed to replace it to its original position and the penalty would have been just one shot. However, a two shot penalty was the sanction as he hit it from where it moved, though it was clear he hadn't noticed movement and would have called it himself if he had.

Lowry stated afterwards that he hadn't seen it move.

"I didn't know anything happened until walking up the 15th fairway and then the rules official came over and told me that there was a possibility the ball moved on the 12th for my second shot.

"I've asked him 'how many shot penalty is that if it did?', and he said 'two'. Obviously then I feel like I'm on the cut mark then, which is not very nice. I feel like I played well on the way in and then obviously waited to see.”

He spoke about the way he decided to accept the penalty and move on.

“"I was in there with the rules official and wasn't arguing my case, but I'm disappointed that they don't have more camera angles on it. The one zoomed in, in slow motion - they're trying to tell me if it doesn't move from the naked eye, if you don't see it moving, it didn't move.

"I told them I definitely was looking down towards the ball as I was taking that practice swing, and I didn't see it move.

"The last thing I want to do is sit there and argue and not take the penalty and then get slaughtered all over social media tonight for being a cheat.

"If the ball moved, I would have called it on myself. My head was definitely looking down at the ball and I didn't see it moving. But I'm out there signing for a 72 there now.

"I'll go out there, I'll be a little bit earlier than I thought I was going to be. I'm going to miss the Lions (v Australia rugby) game now, which is disappointing. Yeah, I'll just do my best."

Scottie Scheffler had loads of sympathy for his playing partner.

"I felt like Shane was put in a pretty tough situation there when they were zooming in on his golf ball. In the rough it's hard to tell. From what I looked at very briefly on the video, it looked like it was very difficult to see if the ball moved. The camera was kind of zooming in as stuff was happening.

“One of the great things about the game of golf is that you call your penalties on yourself. This situation, I think it was a very tough spot for Shane to be put in. He handled it really well. It's obviously very frustrating.

"It's frustrating for me as a competitor of his and a player to watch him after kind of deal with that, because the last thing you want to be known in the game of golf is somebody who cheats.

"I'm not going to state a strong opinion here in the media on whether or not I thought he deserved the penalty, but all I'm going to say is it was a very tough situation for him to be put in, and I thought he handled it really well."

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Former Tour professional and fellow Irish man Paul McGinley also felt it was very harsh on Lowry as he tweeted:

“For me this is very harsh and the rule needs a re think. The spirit of the rule should be what’s important. A penalty should only be applied if the ball can be seen moving with the naked eye.”

Lowry tees off at 11.30am today alongside Jon Rahm.