Shane Lowry Makes Double Bogey After Rules Confusion but Recovers to Lead British Open

The 2019 champion had to play a ball he'd have preferred to be lost in an unusual situation Friday.

Shane Lowry leads going to the weekend at the British Open. / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

TROON, Scotland — The rail line that borders the 11th hole at Royal Troon is daunting enough for what is already the hardest hole on the course. Shane Lowry got past that part.

But it was his second shot from the right rough that potentially caused him a great deal of angst on Friday afternoon, one that led to a provisional he couldn’t use, a ruling, a drop and a double bogey that he was actually happy to achieve.

Lowry, the Irishman who won the 2019 British Open at Royal Portrush, put himself in position to get a crack at another Claret Jug this weekend with a second-round 69 that included him bouncing back from near-disaster at the par-4 11th to lead by two over 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and first-time major participant Daniel Brown.

“I did the hard part. I hit my drive where you could find it, which is obviously a hard thing to do on that hole,” Lowry said of the tee shot that preceded all the drama.

“I got a little bit distracted on the right just as I was over the shot, and I kind of lost a bit of train of thought. You're so afraid of going right there that I just snagged the club and went left.”

Lowry smother-hooked the shot from the right rough into gorse left of the fairway and behind the spectator line. The ball flew into it and the situation appeared dire. Lowry took a drop, believing his ball would be declared lost. It meant hitting his fourth to the green.

“Then from there, I hit a great provisional,” Lowry said. “The referee asked me going down, did I want to find my first one, and I said no. So I assumed that was O.K. Then we get down there, and somebody had found it. So apparently we have to find it then, or you have to go and identify it, which I thought, if you declared it lost before it was found, that you didn't, you didn't have to go and identify it.”

Ah, but he did. Under Rule 18.3c (3), if the original ball is found, it must be played as it lies. That was not possible, so Lowry needed to take a penalty. The provisional was on longer in use.

“I felt like through that whole process of that 20 minutes, it was whatever it was, of taking the drop, seeing where I could drop, and I felt like I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing, and I felt like Darren (his caddie) did a great job too just kind of—he kept telling me, we have loads of time,” Lowry said. “We don't need to rush this. We just need to do the right thing here.

With his fourth shot after the drop from left of the fairway, Lowry advanced to the front of the green then got up-and-down for double bogey.

“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a 6,” Lowry said. “It was not like—it wasn't a disaster. I was still leading the tournament.”

Lowry came back to par four straight holes before birdies at the 16th and 18th holes helped him regain those two dropped shots.

“I think the 12th hole for me was key,” said Lowry, 37, a six-time winner in Europe and a three-time winner on the PGA tour. “Twelve was playing very difficult, straight into the wind. I hit driver, 4-iron there, the best shots I’ve hit all week and made par there. From then on, I felt like it was playing quite difficult, but I felt you could give yourself chances on the way in, and that’s what I did.”