The Open Championship 2025: Shane Lowry Takes Two-Stroke Penalty To Avoid ‘Cheat’ Claims

Shane Lowry wanted to avoid accusations of being a "cheat" after accepting a two-stroke penalty in round two of The Open at Royal Portrush.

It was deemed by the R&A that the Irishman caused his ball to move when taking a practice swing on the 12th hole and was informed of the decision three holes later.

Consequently, Lowry went from a score of two under to level par, just a stroke above the cut line and was due to tee off at 11.30am local time, 10 shots back of leader Scottie Scheffler – a playing partner for the first two rounds.

Lowry is adamant he did not see the ball move and made clear his frustration that more camera angles were not used but opted not to contest the decision for fear of being labelled a cheat online.

Lowry, victor at Portrush in 2019, said: "The last thing I want to do is sit there and argue and not take the penalty and then get slaughtered all over social media tonight for being a cheat.

"I'm disappointed that they don't have more camera angles on it. The one zoomed in slow motion - they're trying to tell me if it doesn't move from the naked eye, if you don't see it moving, it didn't move.

"I told them I definitely was looking down towards the ball as I was taking that practice swing, and I didn't see it move."

World number one Scheffler felt Lowry handled a tough situation well but would not be dragged into a conversation over whether he deserved the punishment.

Scheffler said: "In the rough it's hard to tell. From what I looked at very briefly on the video, it looked like it was very difficult to see if the ball was moving.

"It was a very tough spot for Shane to be put in. He handled it really well. It's obviously very frustrating.

"It's frustrating for me as a competitor of his and a player to watch him after kind of deal with that because the last thing you want to be known in the game of golf is somebody who cheats."