Rules are rules, but this just feels harsh
Shane Lowry received a two-shot penalty on Friday, seemingly taking himself out of contention for The Open at Portrush.
During the 2019 Open winner’s backswing on the par-five 12th, the ball seemingly moved, prompting an R&A investigation before being confirmed after his round that he had been given the penalty, leaving him 10 shots off leader Scottie Scheffler going into the weekend.
There was confusion on TV coverage and on social media as to whether the ball had actually moved, and Lowry himself insisted he hadn’t seen it move, but a new, closer angle seems decisive.
And plenty took to social media on Friday evening to not only question the ‘naked eye’ ruling, but question the spirit of the laws and severity of the punishment itself.
Paul McGinley said: “For me this is very harsh and the rule needs a re think. The spirit of the rule should be what’s important. A penalty should only be applied if the ball can be seen moving with the naked eye”
Lou Stagner said: “By the strict definition of the rule, the call was correct. But this is where golf’s rules become divorced from common sense. What happened to Lowry should not be a penalty.”
Paul Schemling said: “Did not make any purposeful swing at ball or try to gain any advantage…. when will golf realize some rules are dumb…. aka playing out of a fairway divot!”
Michael McEwan added: “I feel for Shane Lowry. How many other players have got away with similar “infractions” this week purely because there were no cameras on – never mind zoomed in on – their ball? But yeah, “level playing field” and all that.”
Lowry said: “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.
“I’ve asked him ‘how many shot penalty is that if it did [move]?’, 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, 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.
“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.”
In a statement, the R&A said: “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?”
