Shane Lowry said that social media backlash meant he felt that he had to accept a penalty given to him at The Open Championship.
Lowry was given a two-shot penalty after he was alleged to have caused his ball to move during a practice swing. That brought the Irishman from two under par and looking to make a charge up the leaderboard, to level par and fighting to make the cut.
He said after his round that he didn’t see the ball move, and seemed to disagree with the decision. But he accepted the penalty willingly, and admitted he was worried about the backlash if he didn’t.
Shane Lowry said he took the penalty to avoid being ‘slaughtered all over social media’
Lowry, the 2019 Open winner at Royal Portrush, said that he didn’t see the ball move when he made his practice swing, and if he did, he would have called it out.
But instead of refusing the penalty, he said that he took it so as not to be labelled a cheater on social media.
He explained, “If the ball moved, and I caused it to move, it’s a two shot penalty. The last thing I want to do is sit there and argue, and not take the penalty, and get slaughtered all over social media tonight for being a cheat. I’m not that.”
While some players struggled at Royal Portrush, Lowry shot a one under 70 to keep himself in contention before the penalty. With the additional two shots, his one over par performance puts him 10 shots back of the lead.
Despite accepting the penalty on his scorecard, Lowry wasn’t so accepting of it with the media. He explained why he thought the penalty was unjust.
He continued, “If the ball moved I would have called it on myself. My head was down and I definitely didn’t see it moving.
“I think they had the decision made. I think they had it in their heads that the ball moved, I caused it to move, it’s a two shot penalty. They only had one camera angle that was zoomed in on the ball. They had none of me full length, which we were looking for and needed.”
Scottie Scheffler shows support for Shane Lowry, ‘It’s frustrating for me’
World number one, Scottie Scheffler, spoke out in support of Lowry and clearly had sympathy for the dilemma he had when deciding whether to take the penalty.
He said, “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 to watch him have to deal with that.”
Scheffler went on to say that Lowry had to protect his reputation in that situation.
He continued, “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 in the media on whether or not I thought he deserved a penalty; all I will say is that it was a tough situation and he handled it really well.”
Scheffler himself had an incredible round, putting himself in a position to win his first Open Championship with a score of 64, his lowest ever round in a major tournament. He tops the leaderboard at 10 under going into Saturday.