Tranlate this title Golf fans call for Shane Lowry apology after Irish Open incident in spanish

Shane Lowry has received heavy criticism from golf fans after a comment he made during the third round of the Irish Open.

The Irishman was playing the 18th hole at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg when his tee shot went left toward a group of volunteers and spectators.

After a shout of “fore”, Lowry was heard saying that “they deserve to get hit”. Nobody was injured, but the comment quickly created a lot of reactions on social media.

The timing made the situation even more unusual because Lowry had just played another very good round and moved himself into a great position to win his national open for the second time.

The 39-year-old carded a 65 on Saturday and moved to 16-under for the tournament, four shots ahead of Jacob Skov Olesen before the final round.

Fans react to Lowry’s comment

Many golf fans did not like what they heard from the former Open champion.

One fan said that it was “a pretty tough look”, while another questioned why Lowry would say something like that about people who were standing where they were supposed to stand.

“The fans deserve an apology. Who does he think he is?” another supporter wrote after the clip started spreading on social media.

Another fan called for Lowry to be fined, while others stressed that a golf ball travelling at high speed can cause a serious injury.

The reaction was quite different from the support Lowry received during most of Saturday.

The home crowd followed him closely around Doonbeg and gave him loud support as he moved further ahead of the field.

Lowry himself spoke positively about the fans after finishing his round.

“I had so much fun out there on the back nine. The crowds were incredible. They cheered me on the whole way home and hopefully will do the same tomorrow,” Lowry said.

The Irish golfer had to work hard on the closing holes, but his putter helped him several times.

He one-putted every green on the back nine and managed to save par at the 18th despite the poor drive that led to the controversial moment.

Lowry said after the round that he was seeing his putting lines well and hoped that would continue for another day.

“I’m seeing my lines well, and starting the ball where I want, and they’re going in. Hopefully that stays that way for another 24 hours,” he added.

Lowry has a big chance to win again at home

Away from the criticism, Lowry is in a very good position to win the Irish Open for the first time since 2009.

He won the tournament as a 22-year-old amateur 17 years ago, one of the biggest early moments of his career.

Lowry later won The Open Championship in 2019 and has spent many years around the top of world golf.

Still, individual wins have not been easy for him recently.

His last solo victory came at Wentworth in 2022, and he has had several chances this season without finishing the job.

Earlier this year, Lowry had opportunities at the Dubai Invitational and Cognizant Classic, but he could not turn those positions into a trophy.

The experienced golfer showed a lot of his talent and really delighted with his performance.

This tournament has looked quite different for him compared to several of the previous ones.

After opening with a 67 in difficult wind and very slow conditions, Lowry produced a course-record 62 on Friday to take control of the event.

He then followed that with Saturday’s 65, even though Olesen briefly caught him at the top of the leaderboard during the third round.

Lowry said the difficult conditions made it important to stay patient.

“I felt like I did a great job today of just staying in the moment and playing my own game,” he said.

The 39-year-old also admitted that winning the Irish Open again would mean a lot to him, but he did not want to think too far ahead before Sunday.

“It would mean a lot, but for this evening, I’m going to try to not think about it.

I’m going to talk to people around me, have a nice evening, hopefully get some sleep, and get out there tomorrow afternoon.

Hopefully the crowd gets on my side, and I can put on a good show for them again, and shoot a good score, and do what I’m supposed to do.”

Lowry will start the final round four shots clear of Olesen, while Joaquin Niemann is further behind in third.