“The last thing I want to do is argue and not take the penalty and then get slaughtered on social media tonight for being a cheat" - Lowry accepts rules blow

Shane Lowry took a two-shot penalty on the chin to maintain his reputation but saw his hopes of winning The Open for a second time dealt a massive blow at Royal Portrush.

The 2019 champion was slapped with a two-shot penalty for causing his ball to move at the 12th and saw a 70 become a one-over 72 that left him 10 shots behind world number one Scottie Scheffler on level par at halfway.]

The Offaly man was level par for the day when he made a practice swing near his ball in the semi-rough at the par-five 12th and the ball moved off its spot.

Lowry didn’t see it move but was informed on the 15th by an official that the incident would be reviewed after his round.

He birdied the hole to ease his fears about making the cut and was clearly devastated afterwards as his penalty and Scheffler’s seven-under 64 left him with a mountain to climb.

He did not argue with officials but asked if he felt the situation was unfair, Lowry said: “A little bit, but I'm not going to -- if the ball moved and I caused it to move and it moved, it's a two-shot penalty.  “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.”

It was a cruel blow for the 2019 champion, who played brilliantly from tee to green but holed little on the greens.

Penalty? Did Shane Lowry cause his ball to move? #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/v0UMwhIx36

— Jason Krump (@JasonKrump) July 18, 2025

Playing partner and world number one Scheffler felt for Lowry.

“Ultimately in golf it's up to the player, and I felt like Shane was put in a pretty tough situation there when they were zooming in on his golf ball,” Scheffler said.

“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 just -- 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.”

Lowry explained how he learned he was likely to receive a penalty as hhe headed down the 15th.

“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,” said Lowry, who believes the officials had their minds made up before he spoke to him afterwards and showed him the replay.  

“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.

“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 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.

“But I had to take the penalty because -- I'm still not sure, to be honest, whether it was or not, but I had to take the penalty because I can't have my name talked about or tossed around like that, and I just get on with it.

“It's obviously very disappointing. I felt like I played really, really well today. And yeah, that's hard to take. Look, I'll just have to dust myself off and get out there tomorrow and give it a go.”

Lowry didn’t feel he was in contention before the penalty and now feels he’s got an even stiffer task.

“Eight shots behind Scottie Scheffler isn't in the fringes of contention the way he's playing,” Lowry said. “I played great on the way in, hit some nice shots. Left it on the lip on 16 and 18, missed a good chance on 17, so it could have been different.

“But yeah, look, it's a disappointing thing to happen to me, but that's golf. Onwards and upwards and give it a run this weekend.”

He shot a course record 63 in round three in 2019 to take a four-shot lead into the final day before winning by six.

But it will be a tough task with Scheffler a shot clear of Matt Fitzpatrick. (66) on 10-under and Brian Harman and Haotong Li a shot further back, while Rory McIlroy is seven strokes adrift after a 69.

“Yeah, look, we'll see what the weather brings and see what happens tomorrow,” Lowry said.”But 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 game now, which is disappointing. And yeah, I'll just do my best.”

Lowry has called shots on himself before and insisted he’d have done so again had he seen the ball move,

“If the ball moved, I would have called it on myself,” he said. “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.

“(The practice swing) was like far from the ball. Apparently a blade of grass I hit and the ball moved. A dimple or something.”