Shane Lowry seriously annoyed by what a reporter said to him when his ball landed in a pitch mark, ‘he came straight over’

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Shane Lowry failed to take his good form on the PGA Tour into the PGA Championship, where he has missed the cut.

Lowry carded rounds of 73 and 71 at Quail Hollow to finish on two-over, with the PGA Championship cut line having stood at one-over.

Jhonattan Vegas leads the way on eight-under heading into the weekend, two shots ahead of Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick and Si Woo Kim.

But three-time PGA Tour winner Lowry won’t be involved, with one particularly damaging moment taking place during his second round.

Lowry didn’t speak to the media after the Truist Championship, with more controversy in that area now coming to light at the PGA Championship.

Shane Lowry really annoyed by reporter’s comments about pitch mark

It came after he was denied relief for an embedded ball on the eighth hole during his second round of the major championship.

He slammed his club into the ground and swore after finding the bunker, and said of the incident post-round: “You hit a lovely tee shot, you’re not expecting that.

“I was obviously very annoyed with that because I felt like I had quite a bit of momentum going in the round, and standing there with 40 or 50 yards to the pin off the fairway it’s an easy pitch shot for me – and I walk away making bogey.”

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And revealing the input of an on-course reporter, he noted: “The ESPN guy was a bit too involved when he wasn’t asked to be and that’s what annoyed me a lot.

“He came straight over and said: ‘That’s not your pitch mark.’ That’s not for you to talk about, it’s for me to call a rules official and decide what happens.

“I wasn’t arguing that it was my pitch mark, I was trying to be 100% sure because imagine if I come in [after the round] and all of a sudden somebody told me that was my pitch mark.

“They told Brooks [Koepka] his ball was OK yesterday and it was on the driving range, so you need to be careful about what you’re doing because there’s so much at stake.”

Shane Lowry misses PGA Championship cut despite strong season so far

Things will likely get harder for Lowry before they get easier, with the Irishman set to be fined for his behaviour.

Frustration understandably got the better of the former Open champion, who could only manage a bogey five on that eighth hole.

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Preferred lies have not been sanctioned for use by the PGA of America, a rule that allows players to lift, clean and place their ball within a specified distance of its original position on closely-mown areas.

Lowry can consider himself very unlucky about the situation, with his tee shot having pitched on the fairway and bounced into another player’s divot.

The one-time major champion would have been confident heading into the PGA Championship, with two runner-up finishes and four top 10s to his name this season.

But he certainly wasn’t the only high-profile player to have missed out on making the weekend, with LIV Golf duo Koepka and Phil Mickelson among others who failed to make the cut.