Rivals and cameramen, make way – Shane Lowry is coming through at the Open Championship.
The Irishman lifted the red mist that momentarily descended upon him at Royal Troon in Scotland to wrestle control of the major, as his second round two-under 69 on Friday sent him into the weekend with a two shot lead.
After opening with a bogey-free 66 on Thursday, 2019 champion Lowry had been motoring along smoothly at the summit before his advantage was derailed by a disastrous 30-minute saga on the notorious par-four 11th “Railway” hole.
Having narrowly survived sending his tee shot onto the train tracks that run alongside the 488-yard hole, the world No. 33 went from frying pan to fire as his subsequent effort from the rough went careening left into the thick gorse across the other side of the fairway.
A visibly disgruntled Lowry then gesticulated and pointed animatedly at a nearby cameraman, later admitting that he had – no pun intended – “lost his train of thought” after becoming “a little distracted” while stood over his shot.
“There was a cameraman there, and he was walking up. I asked him to stop or move back, and he just kind of stayed there,” Lowry told reporters on his return to the clubhouse.
“As it was over, he put his camera up. I kind of saw it out of the corner of my eye, and I should stood off it, (it was) my own fault.”
The drama continued when Lowry struck a “great” provisional shot – taken when a ball is presumed lost outside a penalty area or out of bounds – to within 12 feet of the hole, only for one eagle-eyed fan to subsequently find his original ball and void his provisional effort in the process.
After a lengthy discussion with a rules official regarding where to take a drop from, the 37-year-old golfer eventually left with a double bogey – enough to erase his two-shot cushion, but “not a disaster”, he later reflected.
If Lowry had lost his cool, he quickly found it in abundance. After rebounding with four steady pars, the Irishman signed off with his second birdie in three holes to restore the gap to English duo Justin Rose and Daniel Brown heading into the weekend.
As he seeks to turn back the clock to his dominant triumph at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland five years ago, Lowry has no intention of throttling the passion that helped him clinch his sole major to date.
“I can get a bit down on myself and a bit hot headed at times, but I really feel like that’s why I’ve had the career I’ve had,” Lowry, who has nine combined wins on the PGA Tour and European Tour, said.
“If I go out there and try to be somebody I’m not, you’re just not going to be successful … [But] If I go out there and be myself, I feel like I can do very well. So allowing myself to do that, without getting in your own way.”
McIlroy among big stars to crash out
It was an entirely contrasting day for Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, as the world No. 2 capitulated to become the highest profile casualty of a host of big names that failed to make the cut.
The 35-year-old star had been out to exorcise the demons of his latest heartbreaking major near-miss at the US Open last month but found only more woe at Royal Troon, finishing 11-over par overall to fall well short of the top-70 players and ties that progressed to the weekend.
Needing a fast start after a grueling first round 78, McIlroy’s hopes of making the cut were effectively extinguished by the end of the sixth hole after a nightmarish stretch. Having bogeyed the third, McIlroy triple bogeyed the following par-five hole before back-to-back bogeys.
A solid back nine saw him go two-under par down the stretch but the damage was done, his closing 75 ensuring his wait for a fifth major will continue into an 11th year.
“Once I made the eight on the 4th hole, that was it. 22 holes into the event and I’m thinking about where I’m going to go on vacation next week,” McIlroy admitted to reporters.
“It was a pretty meaningless 14 holes after that, but at least I played okay and at least feel like, when the wind dropped, my game felt a little more comfortable and I hit some good shots.”
Tiger Woods will also be absent from the weekend, resigning him to a third consecutive missed major cut for just the second time in his career.
The 48-year-old shot 79 and 77 to finish on 14-over par, the joint-highest 36-hole score he has ever recorded at a major, but insisted he still enjoyed the challenge.
“I’ve always loved playing major championships. I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors,” Woods, who added he will “definitely” compete at next year’s Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, told reporters Friday.
“Obviously it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. I was hoping that I would find it somehow, just never did. Consequently, my results and scores were pretty high.”
Other big names that failed to survive the cut included last month’s US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, and last year’s US Open champion Wyndham Clark.
With McIlroy, world No. 4 Ludvig Aberg and world No. 7 Viktor Hovland also missing out, only half of the world’s top-10 ranked players – Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Jon Rahm – will tee up Saturday.
