Rónán MacNamara in Portrush
Shane Lowry’s miserable week took another turn after he was struck down by a stomach virus which left him unable to eat as he slumped to a three-over 74 at the Open Championship.
Lowry lies on plus three and it has been a difficult 24 hours for the 2019 champion golfer of the year at Royal Portrush who received a two shot penalty after his second round on Friday evening.
The Clara man became the latest family member to suffer from a stomach virus and it proved a double whammy as he was still gutted over his two shot penalty which ultimately ended his chances.
“I haven’t eaten today yet,” said Lowry. “I tried to get a protein drink down me after eight holes and felt like throwing up all over the place. So yeah, it’s been a tough, tough day, but I’m not going to make excuses.
“Honestly, every bathroom I got to, I went in and I tried to throw up and I couldn’t,” he added.
“It’s just such a bad feeling. I felt like I dealt with it well, but I think a lack of energy towards the end, maybe caught up with me.”
Lowry was unable to feast on the birdies during his third round, carding just two on the tenth and thirteenth while he bogeyed the 2nd, 17th and tripled the 14th.
Dinner wouldn’t have tasted nice on Friday night after he was given a two shot penalty, but it was a rough night for Lowry in more ways than one.
“Yeah, it was hard,” he said of his mood overnight. “It was hard to take everything. Home late, and obviously you’ve got to dust yourself off, and then I wake up at 2:30am with cramps in my stomach.
“We had it in the house a couple of days ago. Wendy had it yesterday; me and Iris have it today.”
Grinning, he joked: “Going on holidays next week, so at least that’s a plus.”
On matters golf, it’s been a very disappointing showing from Lowry as he looked to repeat his heroics from 2019 here.
To be honest, I’m gutted,” he said. “I wanted to do well so badly today and this week and I put so much into this week that yeah, it’s hard to take.
“I feel like I really could have been there or thereabouts, but that’s golf. It doesn’t always go your way.
“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, you should enjoy it a lot more than I did.
“Hopefully I’ll get out tomorrow morning and try and enjoy it as best I can, try and shoot a good score before the [FedEx Cup] playoffs and then for me, my big mindset for the next few months is about the Ryder Cup and trying to win that.”
Lowry was keen to forget about the ruling which went against him and cost him two shots on Friday for unknowingly playing his ball in the rough on the 12th.
It was a ruling which seemed incredibly harsh and there was a supportive reaction from his fellow players.
“I’m not too keen to talk on it too much. I think I said enough about it last night. But yes, they were quite supportive, I would say, the other players.
“I think they all just feel bad for me. Two shots is a lot to give up. I don’t really have much else to say.”
Leave a comment