Shane Lowry has had quite the week on Royal Troon’s par-4 11th hole.
Lowry birdied the brute they call “The Railway” in Thursday’s first round of The Open. He then carded a double bogey on Friday after a cameraman distracted Lowry, apparently causing him to hook his second shot into a gorse bush.
And on Saturday, Lowry made a respectable bogey on a day where just 18 of 80 players found the green and the hole played 0.66 shots over par as the weather turned nasty for the later groups.
Of course, it could’ve been worse for Lowry.
After smashing a drive 267 yards, Lowry still had 234 yards left. He again sent an approach diving left toward the gorse, and his ball may have had the speed to reach the prickly stuff. We’ll never know, though; Lowry’s ball hit a guy with a mic, apparently with radio, standing just off the fairway and trying to duck out of the way. The ball stopped a few feet short of the gorse, in the rough.
I’d say that hit the chap who found young Lowry’s ball yesterday, trying to make amends. Majestic. pic.twitter.com/kDhNIlrJh8
— TweeterAlliss (Parody) (by Jove) (@TweeterAlliss) July 20, 2024
After he fatted his pitch about 40 feet short of the hole, Lowry was fuming, though it was unclear if he was upset at the radio guy without realizing his good fortune. No Laying Up transcribed what Lowry shouted: “In the future, don’t stand in the middle of the f---ing fairway when we’re trying to hit, OK?”
Lowry eventually got in with bogey, part of a 6-over stretch for Lowry between Nos. 8-15.
