Shane Lowry was handed a two-shot penalty in round two of The Open at Royal Portrush, cutting him further adrift from World No.1 Scottie Scheffler.
On hole 12 on Friday afternoon, the Irishman addressed the ball before completing a practice swing, in which he brought his clubhead down to the side of the ball. This appeared to cause it to move.
It resulted in a double bogey seven on this par 5 and a score of 72. He has fallen 10 shots behind playing partner and tournament leader Scheffler.
Here is what the R&A said in a statement:
During Round Two, Shane Lowry’s ball was seen to have moved while he was taking a practice swing for his second shot from the rough at the 12th hole.
The Rules require three things to be assessed in such situations:
1. Did the ball leave its original position and come to rest on another spot?
2. Was the ball’s movement to another spot discernible to the naked eye?
and 3. If the ball did come to rest on another spot and the movement was discernible to the naked eye, is it known or virtually certain that the player’s actions caused the ball to move?
Assessing whether the movement of the ball was visible to the naked eye in such a situation assumes the player being in a normal address position for the stroke.
In Shane Lowry’s situation, the movement of the ball to another spot, including the movement of the logo, was discernible to the naked eye.
The naked eye test is satisfied whether or not the player was looking at the ball when it moved.
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.
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In these circumstances there is a one stroke penalty and the ball must be replaced.
However, as the ball was played from the spot where it was moved to, the player played from a wrong place and incurs a total penalty of two strokes.”
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Shane Lowry: Open penalty explained by the man himself
“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,” Lowry explained.
“I’ve asked him, ‘How many penalty shots 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.”
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