‘I’m not a cheat’: The moment that cost former British Open champion a two-shot penalty

Portrush, Northern Ireland: Marc Leishman is the sole surviving Australian at the Open at Royal Portrush, as the tournament was rocked late on Friday (local time) by a cheating controversy involving local hero and former winner Shane Lowry, which resulted in him being handed a two-stroke penalty by the officials.

Leishman carded a three-under round of 68 after teeing off in the first group in the morning, while Jason Day was left without a spot in the weekend’s field after a late change in the cut-line forced him into an early exit, alongside countrymen Cam Smith, Ryan Peake, Lucas Herbert, Elvis Smylie, Min Woo Lee, Curtis Luck and Adam Scott.

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler leads, one shot ahead of 2022 US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, who is attempting to become the first Englishman to win the Open since Nick Faldo in 1992.

American Brian Harman, who won the Open two years ago at Royal Liverpool, and China’s Haotong Li are two shots back at eight-under par.

But it was a seemingly innocuous incident on the 12th hole that propelled the 153rd Open Championship into high drama, when Lowry was standing over his second shot.

Television slow-motion replays of Lowry’s practice swing showed his ball move as his club made contact with the long grass adjacent to the ball, sending social media into meltdown.

Rule officials and Lowry were locked inside the score return hut for nearly half an hour until 9pm. As light faded, a dejected Lowry appeared and faced the media to explain the result of his alleged indiscretion.

“If the ball moved, and I caused the ball to move, then it’s a two-shot penalty,” he said, clearly exasperated by the situation.

“The last thing I’m going to do is sit there and argue and not take the penalty and then get slaughtered all over on social media, I’m not that.”

Shane Lowry said: “I’m not a cheat”.Credit: Getty Images

Lowry was adamant that he didn’t see the ball move as he swung his club and he said he was frustrated there weren’t more camera angles to back up his version of events. He said an isolated, zoomed in slow-motion replay of the ball is an unfair reflection of the events.

“If the ball moved, I would have called it on myself. My head was definitely looking down at the ball and I didn’t see it moving, but I’m out there signing for a 72 now.”

To add another layer of controversy, Lowry was caught by broadcast microphones earlier in the round saying “f--- this place” after an errant tee shot on the 11th hole.

The fiery Irishman has now been caught on film saying the same three words at three of the four majors this year, adding to incidents at the US Open and the PGA Championship.

THE LEADERBOARD

• 1st Scottie Scheffler (64) -10
• 2nd Matt Fitzpatrick (66) -9
• T3 Haotong Li (67) -8
• T3 Brian Harman (65) -8
• T5 Rasmus Hojgaard (68) -5
• T5 Tyrrell Hatton (69) -5
• T5 Robert Macintyre (66) -5
• T5 Harris English (70) -5
• T5 Chris Gotterup (65) -5

AUSTRALIANS:

• T26 Marc Leishman (68) -1
• Cameron Smith (missed the cut)
• Jason Day (missed cut)
• Ryan Peake (missed cut)
• Lucas Herbert (missed cut)
• Elvis Smylie (missed cut)
• Min Woo Lee (missed cut)
• Curtis Luck (missed cut)
• Adam Scott (missed cut)

Following the practice swing controversy, Lowry said he would not be called a “cheat”. After the penalty, Lowry’s scorecard changed to reflect a double-bogey seven on the 12th hole and a one-over par round of 72. He now sits even par for the tournament in a tie for 34th heading into the weekend.

Had he not been deemed to have breached a rule on the 12th, he would have begun his round on Saturday tied for 26th, alongside Leishman.

Local fans will once again turn out in their droves in round three to support Lowry and Northern Irish hero Rory McIlroy, who put himself in contention by shooting 69, leaving him three-under for the tournament and a genuine chance of doing damage.

McIlroy will head into Saturday seven shots behind Scheffler, who played an incredible second round of 64, which included eight birdies and one bogey.

Marc Leishman plays his tee shot on the 13th hole during the second round of the British Open.Credit: AP

Queensland’s Smylie birdied two of the last three holes to finish three over and miss the cut by one, while Victorian Herbert nearly holed out from 148 metres on 18 to eagle the final hole and put himself within the cut line, but was ultimately too far back.

At two over for the tournament, Day was actually inside the cut when he walked off the 18th green in the middle of the afternoon but was outside by the end of play.

Leishman was in the first group on Friday morning (local time), which was both good and bad.

Marc Leishman in action at Portrush.Credit: AP

A 4am alarm clock was far from ideal, but it did mean he got the best of the conditions on a dry second morning at the coastal course.

“Everything felt pretty good. I putted well, [and] probably left a couple out there. I had a three-putt on [hole] five, but that was a really tough pin. I drove it well, [and] didn’t hit any fairway bunkers today, which was good. That’s what killed me yesterday,” Leishman told reporters after walking off the 18th, where he pushed a birdie putt just wide after a beautiful eight-iron approach.

After birdying five of the opening 12 holes, Leishman made back-to-back bogies before steadying the ship to finish at one-under for the first two rounds.

But he said he was happy overall.

“Obviously that little mishap on 13 there – it’s a bit scary when that happens. [There was a] two-hole stretch that [I] didn’t sort of do a whole lot wrong apart from that tee shot on 13.

“Obviously I would have liked to go a little bit lower, but we always do as golfers. [I’m] happy to be watching it on TV. I’ll probably have a pint or two of Guinness and enjoy my afternoon,” he said.

Royal Portrush won’t be a place Scott will be racing back to, however.

The 2013 Masters champion came into the second round in decent striking form but had a disastrous day, carding an eight-over round of 79 to crash out of the tournament.

Scott made double bogeys on holes three, 11 and 16 and bogeys on nine, 10 and 18 on a day on which almost everything went wrong.

Adam Scott came into the second round in decent striking form but had a disastrous day, carding an eight-over round of 79 to crash out of the tournament.Credit: Getty Images

He was one of four Australians to finish in the last 20 on the leaderboard, with 2022 Open winner Smith posting an equally disastrous seven-over 78, to ensure the Queenslander missed the cut at all four majors of the year.

Peake finished eight over for the tournament after shooting 73 on Friday, alongside West Australian Luck who struck the ball well during the second round to shoot one under the card after a horror opening round of 80.

‘If the ball moved, I would have called it on myself. My head was definitely looking down at the ball and I didn’t see it moving, but I’m out there signing for a 72 now.’

Shane Lowry

Luck admitted after the round that he has been struggling with significant health concerns, with neck, groin and back issues continuing to plague his ability to play and even practice consistently.

“The MRI has come back clean and my spine is in good order so we are just trying to figure out what the issue is with my movement patterns. I had to avoid a lot of activities to make sure that I was healthy enough to play here.

Fellow West Australian Lee cut a frustrated figure across the two days, with rounds of 74 and 73 not enough to threaten the cut line at any stage throughout the tournament.

“Yeah, it was there, but also not, yeah, I just didn’t convert anything,” he told Australian reporters after walking off the 18th on Friday.

“It’s a course where it can bite you in the butt pretty quick.”

Sam McClure travelled to the British Open with the assistance of Golf Australia.

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