British Open 2024: Shane Lowry questions set-up, rollback after Saturday's brutal conditions

TROON, Scotland — The British Open's weather is part of the championship's charm, and sometimes, part of its infamy. Those in Saturday’s afternoon wave at Royal Troon caught the business end of the elements, with consistent rain and strong wind creating some of the toughest scoring conditions major golf has seen in some time. And, for the most part, the players didn’t complain, because there’s only so much you can do against Mother Nature.

However, Shane Lowry felt the R&A could have given the field a break.

Lowry, the 2019 Open champ, started Saturday as the leader and played in the final group. At one point on the front nine, he had stretched that lead to three shots. Alas, Lowry eventually wilted, playing his last 11 holes in seven over par, finishing with a 77 that, while just three shots back of the 54-hole lead, has him in ninth heading into the final 18 holes.

After his round, Lowry questioned if the set-up he and others faced was truly a fair test, while taking a knock at the R&A and USGA’s recent intentions to roll back increasing distance gains in golf.

“Yeah, it was hard. Yeah, playing a par 3 hitting drivers is not much crack,” Lowry said. “Roll the ball back, huh? Yeah.”

Lowry, who was clearly running hot, was asked if it was one of the hardest rounds he’s played. He responded by pointing to the R&A failing to adjust some of the tee positions.

“Circumstantial as well, it's obviously very difficult. But you'd have to question why there wasn't a couple of tees put forward today, to be honest,” Lowry explained. “I think 15 and 17—like 15 is 500 yards playing into that wind, it's—yeah, they keep trying to make holes longer, yet the best hole in this course is about 100 yards.”

Lowry wasn’t wrong. There were several sights on Saturday of players unable to reach par 4s with fairway woods and numerous players hitting driver on the par-3 17th only to fail to reach the green.

Lowry wasn’t the first player to insinuate the tees should be moved up at Royal Troon, as Tyrrell Hatton made a similar plea early in the week before missing the cut. And, as Lowry also acknowledged, he perhaps wasn’t in the best of moods to give his opinion following the 77.

“Yeah, obviously, look, there's no doubt I'm going to go out there tomorrow thinking I can win the tournament, but it's just hard right now,” Lowry said. “You have to give me a bit of leeway. Ten minutes ago I had to putt for par on the 18th green, and I'm here talking to you guys now trying to figure out how I shot 77 in my own head. Like, yeah, this game is just hard, and now you feel how hard it was for playing well the first two days in those conditions. Honestly, it was brutal.

“I guess for me the 8th hole was killer really, make par there, and you can still shoot three or four over from there and still be leading the tournament. Just pulled my wedge shot there. Look, I don't really know what to say. It was a grind. It wasn't much fun. Driver, driver into 15. 16 playing ridiculously long. Driver into 17. Then you're standing on the 18th tee wondering if you can actually hit the fairway, if you can reach the fairway, and it's 230 yards to the fairway. Bear in mind my driver pitched about 220 yards on the 17th hole. So, yeah, it's not much fun out there.”

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.

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