Shane Lowry has admitted to being taken aback by Bryson DeChambeau’s penalty on day two of The Open Championship.
DeChambeau did not rule out leaving the event after his two-stroke penalty, which he received after his second round at Royal Birkdale.
Was Bryson DeChambeau's penalty unfair?
He was penalised two shots following an incident on the fifth hole…
On the fifth hole, he was deemed to have inadvertently improved the area of his intended backswing by trampling down the long rough.
DeChambeau was frustrated by his penalty at The Open Championship, which certainly took his fellow player Lowry by surprise.
Shane Lowry shares sympathy for Bryson DeChambeau after his two-shot penalty
Speaking to the media after his third round, Lowry was among several players unsurprisingly asked for their thoughts on the DeChambeau incident at Royal Birkdale.
“Yeah, I mean, looks to me like he improved his lie, and that’s the rules of golf,” said the Irishman, who won The Open in 2019.
“Yeah, it was interesting watching it last night. None of us were expecting it. I was watching the end of the golf… yeah, that’s the rules of golf.
“It’s unfortunate for him, but that’s the way it is.”
And giving his take on the post-round reaction from the American, Lowry said: “I’m not going to stand here and say that much. It’s not really much on me.
“Obviously it is what it is. It happened. I see he’s doing okay today. It was obviously going to be very tough for him to go out and play today after that happening, but yeah.”
DeChambeau was still playing his third round by the time Lowry spoke of his penalty, but the LIV Golf star went on to card a one-under 69.
It leaves him in contention on six-under, four shots behind leader Sam Burns with one round left to play on Sunday.
Shane Lowry eyes title contention on Sunday at The Open
Lowry meanwhile is two shots behind DeChambeau on four-under, having also posted a 69 on Saturday at Royal Birkdale.
It was also put to the Irishman that he may now need to replicate his third round 63 en route to winning the event in 2019, to which he said: “There’s a few of them out there. A few of them doing it this week.
“So it might be my turn tomorrow. One thing’s for certain, I’ll go out there and give it a go, and hopefully it’s a great day.”
And sharing if he’s pleased by his current position ahead of the final day given his past efforts, he said: “Yeah, I’m happy. I’d love to be two or three shots better; don’t get me wrong.
“I wanted to go out there and shoot 5-under today; that’s what I had in my head. But I didn’t. I shot the best score I could, which was 1-under.
“I’m going to be a few back going into tomorrow, but if I can go out there and get off to a good start on the front nine… I played the front nine well this week.
“If I can do that tomorrow and hole a few putts as well, I feel like I can get myself there or thereabouts going into the back nine.
“But it’s great; I really enjoyed today. Being out there with Ludvig [Aberg], he’s playing great golf as well. It was an enjoyable day. It was a grind at times, but I did enjoy it out there.”
The top of the leaderboard is extremely competitive at this stage, but Lowry does indeed have the very useful experience of winning The Open.
He clinched the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush seven years ago, securing a comfortable six-shot victory over Tommy Fleetwood.
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