Shane Lowry launched into a furious tirade after being left frustrated by a cameraman while playing a shot on day two of The Open. Lowry made a strong start and was two shots clear of Daniel Brown at the top of the leaderboard after making three birdies in the first nine holes.
Things quickly went south for Lowry at the 11th hole when he found the long grass with an errant tee shot. The 37-year-old attempted to play the ball onto the fairway but pulled it too far left and his shot ended up in the gorse.
Lowry was left furious and took his anger out on a nearby cameraman as he exploded into a foul-mouthed tirade, saying: "As I was over the ball, I could just see you with the f*****g camera up! Just get out of the way. Just get back there. F**k sake."
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With the ball appearing to be lost, Lowry reloaded and declared a provisional before landing his next shot around 20 feet from the hole. However, an eagle-eyed fan came across his original ball, kicking off a lengthy delay to determine whether he would need to play it.
Two rules officials were called in by Lowry, who was seen walking as far back as the fairway on the 12th hole as he lined up where he would take his unplayable drop.
R&A rules official Charlie Maran was heard saying: "You can declare a ball lost, but when it’s actually found it is the ball in play. The provisional ball that he did play now becomes a wrong ball, so he has to take his options with his original ball."
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Lowry ended up hitting his new fourth shot from around 70 yards, landing the ball on the outskirts of the 11th green. He went on to find the hole in two additional shots for a double bogey, reducing his score from seven under par to five under.
The man from Ireland was visibly annoyed as he trudged off the green but managed to regain his solo lead just a couple of holes later. Brown, who was the surprise leader at the end of day one, dropped a shot on his ninth hole of the day which saw Lowry pull ahead.
It came after Jordan Spieth forced Sky Sports commentators to apologise after swearing in frustration as he veered off course at the 10th hole. He recovered to give himself a shot at par but missed before slipping to a double bogey on the next hole, which left him on three over.
