Shane Lowry sets himself up for big weekend as he overcomes bizarre incident at The Open
The 2019 champion golfer of the year walked off the South Ayrshire course as the outright leader for the second successive day
Shane Lowry set himself up for a big weekend at The Open after battling to a hard-earned two under-par 69 at Royal Troon, which included an X-rated rant at a cameraman.
The 2019 champion golfer of the year walked off the South Ayrshire course as the outright leader for the second successive day after once again finishing with a birdie on the par four 18th as he recovered from a double bogey on the 11th after two bizarre incidents on the same hole.
Lowry had dropped only one shot through 28 holes before hitting a good tee shot on the par-four 11th, but he was distracted by a cameraman as he went to take his second, which went left, flying over the gallery and into a gorse bush.
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The 37-year-old was fuming with the outcome and could be heard saying to the cameraman: "As I was over the ball I could just see you putting your f***ing camera up. Just get out of the way. Just get back there. F*** sake.”
Lowry took a drop shot after his ball went into the gorse, but a spectator then found his original ball, meaning it was still in play and it took some time to determine where he could best take a drop. His shot then just shot of the green as he went on to get a double-bogey six.
"Just there was a cameraman there, and he was walking up, and I asked him to stop or move back, and he just kind of stayed there," the world number 33 explained afterwards. "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, my own fault."
But he recovered well from it and did not let it derail his round, which started in calmer conditions than Thursday before the wind got up as it went on. Lowry stated: "I think the 12th hole for me was key. 12 was playing very difficult, straight into the wind. I hit driver, 4-iron there too, the best shots I've hit all week, to about 30 feet and made par there. From then on, I felt like down out of the left coming in, it was playing quite difficult, but I felt like you could give yourself chances on the way in, and that's what I did."
Lowry began his round one shot behind England's Daniel Brown, whose late surge on Thursday saw him leapfrog the Irishman at the top of the leaderboard on six-under-par.
The Offaly native picked up where he left off with a birdie on the par-four first before pars on the second and third. He moved into the outright lead thanks to a brilliant approach to within tap-in range on the par-five fourth just as Brown was starting his own round.
Lowry dropped his first shot of the week after finding sand off the tee on the fifth, but added another birdie on the iconic eighth, Postage Stamp, before the double bogey on 11th saw his two-shot lead disappear.
But he didn't drop another shot for the rest of the round and added two more birdies on the par-five 16th, as well as the final hole, finishing the day on seven-under overall after a second round 69.
Reflecting on his round overall, Lowry said: "I felt like I went out there, I was in control of my ball, did all the right things for a lot of the round. Then when I got in a bit of trouble, I feel like I really finished the round well.
"I'm pretty happy with the day. To be leading this tournament after two days, it's why you come here, it's why we're here."
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