Lowry questions Troon course setup and golf ball rollback plan after Open hopes fade on brutal day
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Shane Lowry shot a six-over 77 on one of the toughest days in Open Championship history to dent his hopes of a second Claret Jug and quickly mocked plans to roll back the golf ball and lashed out at Royal Troon the course set-up.
The Irishman, who led by two as he headed out in the final group alongside England’s Dan Brown late on Saturday afternoon, opened up a three-shot lead early in his round as the rain poured and the wind howled. But he dropped seven shots from the 8th to 18th holes to sit on one-under for the tournament, six shots worse than he started the day and three shots behind leader Billy Horschel, who will take his first-ever lead into the Sunday of a Major.
Lowry had played the opening seven holes in one-under par and looked well in control before finding a bunker at The Postage Stamp and racking up a double bogey. The horrific conditions and the long set-up made Troon’s back nine among the toughest ever seen in The Open. The journey home was playing 3,831 yards across its par 35 but it played hundreds of yards longer and produced an average 36.88 in the third round – a number that would be far higher if you discounted the rounds that were completed before the wild weather set in.
A disappointed Lowry, who will need to produce something special if he is to add a second Claret Jug to his collection on Sunday, questioned the set-up when asked if it was the toughest round he’d faced.
“I don’t know. Circumstantial as well, it’s obviously very difficult. But you’d have to question why there wasn’t a couple of tees put forward today, to be honest. I think 15 and 17 – like 15 is 500 yards playing into that wind, it’s – yeah, they keep trying to make holes longer, yet the best hole in this course is about 100 yards.”
“Honestly, it was brutal. I guess for me the 8th hole was killer really, make par there, and you can still shoot three or four-over from there and still be leading the tournament. I just pulled my wedge shot there.
“It was a grind. It wasn’t much fun. [I hit] Driver, driver into 15. 16 playing ridiculously long. Driver into 17. Then you’re standing on the 18th tee wondering if you can actually hit the fairway, if you can reach the fairway, and it’s 230 yards to the fairway. Bear in mind my driver pitched about 220 yards on the 17th hole. So, yeah, it’s not much fun out there.”
Lowry’s thoughts were echoed on social media with viewers loving the chaos it was causing but questioning whether it was a fair test. Lowry, meanwhile, used his round as weight in the argument against golf’s planned ball rollback.
“Playing a par-3 hitting drivers is not much crack. Roll the ball back, huh?” the 37-year-old said.
Lowry won The Open at Royal Portrush in testing weather conditions in 2019 and had been backed by Rory McIlroy to flourish across the weekend at Troon, but he came home in 40 shots, and admitted that making a par was a struggle. His day was summed up as he clattered his approach in the accessible viewing platform in the grandstand to the right of the 18th green and then failed to get up and down after a drop.
The Ryder Cup star was downbeat as he spoke shortly after leaving the course, but believes he still has a good chance of winning the championship.
“There’s no doubt I’m going to go out there tomorrow thinking I can win the tournament, but it’s just hard right now. You have to give me a bit of leeway. Ten minutes ago I had to putt for par on the 18th green, and I’m here talking to you guys now trying to figure out how I shot 77 in my own head. Like, yeah, this game is just hard, and now you feel how hard it was for playing well the first two days in those conditions.”
Lowry will head out alongside Adam Scott in the final round (tee times and groups). They get underway at 1.45pm local time with weather conditions expected to be far more friendly.
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Shane Lowry during the third round of the 2024 Open at Troon.
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Lowry shelters from the elements at Royal Troon.
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Shane Lowry had to play sideways out of the Postage Stamp's Coffin Bunker.
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Shane Lowry started the third round at Troon with a two-shot lead.
