Shane Lowry Affected by Virus as John Rahm Supports Him After Golf Penalty

Shane Lowry revealed that he was impacted by a virus as John Rahm called for rule changes in golf after the Irish man was hit by a two-stroke penalty on Friday. The Offaly man was handed the sanction after his ball appeared to move during a practice swing on the 12th hole and was picked up on TV footage – and the punishment saw him start his third round on level par and 10 shots off the lead. He was unable to make up any ground, with a triple bogey on the 14th seeing him eventually post a 74 on Saturday to fall to three-over par.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Lowry revealed that a virus had affected him and his family, but refused to accept it as an excuse. \"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,\" said Lowry. \"Yeah, 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 and a little bit of a bad break as well.\"

Meanwhile, two-time major winner Rahm believes the rules of golf need to be changed to avoid players having to accept penalties rather than run the risk of being called a cheat. The Irishman, 2019 champion at Royal Portrush, insisted he did not see the incident so could not call the infringement on himself - which he could then have rectified by replacing his ball at a cost of one just stroke - but accepted the sanction as he did not want to be accused of cheating.

\"I can relate because I've been there. They’ve done exactly the same thing to me where they give you the iPad, and say 'look what happened’,\" said the Spaniard, who recovered from two bogeys in his first three holes to card four birdies for a 69 to get to two-under for the tournament. \"You’re in a no-win situation because if you say 'I didn’t see it, therefore I don’t think it should be a penalty' even though the rule says it should be visible to the naked eye, you always run the risk of being called something you don’t want to be called. And if you take it on the safe side, you’re taking a two-shot penalty. It needs to be visible without a camera. If the rule says visible to the naked eye, we need to uphold that more than anything else. Something needs to be changed for sure, I just don’t know exactly how they could change it.\"

Additional reporting: PA

According to the source: RTE.ie.