Shane Lowry will get ‘large’ break when shot hits Open marshal

To win any main championship, you want a little bit little bit of luck — or perhaps lots of little bit of luck — maybe particularly so on the linksy Open Championship. Shane Lowry is aware of that every one too properly, and he bought one other lesson on Saturday when a marshal’s leg got here between him and catastrophe.

Lowry, the 2019 Open champion, started Saturday’s third spherical with a two-shot lead. However when he made it to the par-4 eleventh, the ‘Railway’ gap, his lead had narrowed to 1 on a wet, windy day at Royal Troon. The eleventh will get its title from the prepare that runs alongside the suitable aspect, and with deep gorse working up the left, it’s one of many hardest checks on the course.

So onerous that Lowry made double bogey there in his second spherical on Friday, one of many few blemishes in a spherical of 69 that earned him the 36-hole lead.

He ended up needing a giant break to keep away from a crooked quantity for the second-straight day.

On Saturday, Lowry’s tee shot discovered the golf green, leaving him with 233 yards to the inexperienced. However his prolonged method shot went wayward shortly, ducking low and to the left. The NBC broadcast confirmed Lowry’s ball racing towards the gorse off the left aspect of the golf green, and it appeared like nothing may maintain it from burying within the bushes, and burying Lowry’s Open hopes together with it.

However then fortune struck. As Lowry’s ball made its approach towards the gorse, an Open Championship marshall was strolling on a path that appeared like it will intersect with the ball. Crucially, the marshal wasn’t wanting on the ball.

In order cameras rolled, Lowry’s ball struck the leg of the marshal, and remained within the tough, avoiding a disastrous destiny. NBC’s Mike Tirico instantly referred to as it a “large, large break” on the TV broadcast.

Test it out beneath.

Sadly, Lowry was unable to avoid wasting par, dropping right into a tie for the lead at 5 underneath at that time, and organising a crowded leaderboard and a tense again 9.

But when not for a little bit unintentional assist from the marshal, it may have been an entire lot worse.

Kevin Cunningham

Golf.com Editor

As managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes tales on GOLF.com, and manages the model’s e-newsletters, which attain greater than 1.4 million subscribers every month. A former two-time intern, he additionally helps maintain GOLF.com buzzing outdoors the news-breaking tales and repair content material offered by our reporters and writers, and works with the tech crew within the growth of latest merchandise and progressive methods to ship an attractive website to our viewers.