As if things couldn’t get any worse for Shane Lowry, who was landed with a two-stroke penalty on finishing his second round on Friday night, his return to the links for the third round of this 153rd Open had him suffering from a stomach virus.
Lowry struggled to a 74 to be a three-over-par 216 through 54-holes following a round in which he spent much of the time identifying player toilets to get sick.
The virus had been running through the family in recent days and Lowry woke up at 2.30am suffering from stomach cramps ahead of his third round, couldn’t eat and even struggled to keep a protein drink down.
Lowry, Open champion in 2019, was hit with the two-stroke penalty for his ball moving in the rough on the 12th during his second round which did as much damage as the virus to suck all the energy from his being.
RM Block
“Honestly, every bathroom (around the course) I went in and tried to throw up. I couldn’t,” Lowry said after his round on Saturday.
“It’s just such a bad feeling. I think lack of energy towards the end maybe did me in. Look, I don’t want to make excuses. It is what it is. It’s just really bad timing obviously.
“I haven’t eaten today yet. I tried to get a protein drink down me after eight holes, and I felt like throwing up all over the place. It’s been a tough day, but I’m not going to make excuses.
“I played poorly today and obviously had a bad finish. I felt like I ground it out really well to get to one-under for the day through 13. Then a bad shot on 14 (for triple bogey) and a little bit of a bad break as well.
“You know, it’s golf. It doesn’t always go your way, but you just need to kind of keep plugging away and I’ll go out there tomorrow (again). The annoying thing for me today is I didn’t get to enjoy today as much as I would have liked. Saturday at The Open in your home country, I should enjoy it a lot more than I did, just because of how I felt.
“Hopefully I get out tomorrow morning and try and enjoy it as best I can, try to shoot the best score I can, and then have a couple weeks off before the playoffs. For me, my big mindset for the next few months is about the Ryder Cup and trying to win that. That’s where all my work is going to go towards over the next while.”
