Shane Lowry made news for not doing any media after finishing runner-up at last week’s Truist Championship, but he said plenty on Friday. It just happened on the golf course.
After a rough start on Thursday at the PGA Championship, the 2019 Open champ had clawed his way back to one over for the tourney with a birdie on No. 7 during his second round at Quail Hollow. And he seemed in position to make another after a nice drive on the short par-4 eighth. But that’s when things went wrong.
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We’ve heard a lot about “mudballs” so far this week from the world’s best players after all the rain in the Charlotte area earlier in the week, but Lowry suffered something even worse: His golf ball had wound up in a pitch mark. The Irishman called a rules official over and, according to ESPN, was “boisterous” after not being granted any free relief.
From there, Lowry stubbed his 57-yard second shot about 30 yards into a greenside bunker and unleashed an F-bomb tirade while chopping down on the area with his club several times. Then after failing to get up and down for par, Lowry was seen flipping the bird at his golf ball.
This rules official will not be receiving a Christmas card from Shane Lowry. pic.twitter.com/D7Ed9Z1n6G
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) May 16, 2025
It’s unclear what Lowry asked the rules official, but we would guess he was hoping for an embedded ball ruling and free relief. Anyway, here’s how ESPN’s Geoff Ogilvy assessed the unfortunate situation.
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“It must have been someone else’s pitch mark because you get a drop out of your own,” Ogivly said on ESPN. “So, incredibly unlucky.”
Incredibly unlucky, indeed. And incredibly frustrating. Just ask Shane Lowry. Well, on second thought, it’s probably best not to ask him about it for a bit.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com