Shane Lowry was assessed a two-shot penalty after his ball moved following a practice swing during Friday’s second round at the 2025 Open Championship.

Lowry, who captured the claret jug at Royal Portrush in 2019, was even on the day and one under for the championship when he reached the par-5 12th. Cameras just happened to have a close-up view of Lowry’s ball in the rough as he took a practice swing before playing his second shot, and the ball visibly moved after Lowry’s iron passed through the nearby grass.

R&A officials met with Lowry and playing partners Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa for roughly 20 minutes after the round. Ultimately, they decided that Lowry’s ball movement merited a penalty, one shot for moving the ball and a second shot for not moving it back and thus playing it from a wrong place.

Lowry, who signed for a one-over 72 instead of a one-under 70, was told on the 15th hole that the R&A was reviewing the shot.

“I didn’t know anything happened until the 15th. He told me it was a two-shot penalty, so I feel like I’m on the cut line then,” Lowry said afterwards. “I’m disappointed they don’t have more camera angles on it. They say if you don’t see it move, it didn’t move. I didn’t see it, but I had to take a penalty because I can’t have my name tossed around like that.

“It’s obviously very disappointing. It’s hard to take but I have to dust myself off and get out there tomorrow. I’m not going to get called a cheat and have my name [dragged] around social media. I’ve signed for a 72 now. I’m going to have to think about this before I go to bed tonight.”

As for being told about the potential penalty on the 15th, Lowry said, “You want to know if you’re going to be on the cut.”

The R&A released a lengthy statement Friday afternoon explaining why Lowry was assessed his two penalty strokes. In the statement, the R&A said that the Rules of Golf required three things to be assessed such situations.

1. Did the ball leave its original position and come to rest on another spot?

2. Was the ball’s movement to another spot discernible to the naked eye?

3. If the ball did come to rest on another spot and the movement was discernible to the naked eye, is it known or virtually certain that the player’s actions caused the ball to move?

The R&A continued by saying “Assessing whether the movement of the ball was visible to the naked eye in such a situation assumes the player being in a normal address position for the stroke.

“In Shane Lowry’s situation, the movement of the ball to another spot, including the movement of the logo, was discernible to the naked eye. The naked eye test is satisfied whether or not the player was looking at the ball when it moved.

“It was clear that the ball moved immediately after the player’s club touched foliage close to the ball during a practice swing and that the player’s actions caused the ball to move.

“In these circumstances there is a one-stroke penalty and the ball must be replaced. However, as the ball was played from the spot where it was moved to, the player played from a wrong place and incurs a total penalty of two strokes.”

Scheffler commended Lowry for how he handled the situation. “Ultimately in golf, it’s up to the player, and I felt like Shane was put in a pretty tough situation there when they were zooming in on his golf ball. In the rough it’s hard to tell.

“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. I’m not going to state a strong opinion here in the media on whether or not I thought he deserved the penalty, but all I’m going to say is it was a very tough situation for him to be put in, and I thought he handled it really well.”

Lowry’s two-shot penalty moved him from two-under 140 for the championship to even-par 142, which was still good enough to make the weekend (the cut came a one over). He begins the third round now 10 shots back of 36-hole leader Scottie Scheffler.

“I played great on the way in, hit some nice shots,” Lowry said. “Left it on the lip on 16 and 18, missed a good chance on 17, so it could have been different.

“But yeah, look, it’s a disappointing thing to happen to me, but that’s golf. Onwards and upwards and give it a run this weekend.”

It ended an eventual day for Lowry, which also featured a hot-mic incident.

Last month Lowry was assessed a penalty during the second round of the U.S. Open for accidentally picking up his ball without marking it.

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Main Image: Ramsey Cardy