Golf: Lowry And Hatton Swear In Outbursts At US PGA

2025 US PGA Championship second round

-8 Vegas (Ven); -6 Fitzpatrick (Eng), Kim (Kor), Pavon (Fra)

Selected others: -5 Homa (US), Scheffler (US); -4 MacIntyre (Sco); -3 DeChambeau (US), Rai (Eng), Bland (Eng); -2 Fleetwood (Eng), Rahm (Spa); -1 Donald (Eng), Hatton (Eng); +1 McIlroy (NI), Schauffele (US)

Missed cut: +2 Lowry (Ire), Spieth (US); +3 Aberg (Swe), Thomas (US); +9 Rose (Eng)

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A furious Shane Lowry lashed out at the course and Tyrrell Hatton swore at his own club as tempers frayed at the US PGA Championship.

Irish golfer Lowry slammed his club into the Quail Hollow turf and loudly swore about “this place” after being denied relief for an embedded ball on the eighth hole and dumping his second shot into a greenside bunker.

Lowry flipped his middle finger at the hole as he tapped in for a bogey five and the 2019 Open champion went on to make a second round of 71 and miss the halfway cut by a single shot on two over.

Both Hatton and Lowry are likely to face fines for their behaviour.

Englishman Hatton, who started on the 10th, was within a shot of the lead after covering his first eight holes in two under par before a costly triple bogey.

After pulling his tee shot on the difficult par-four 18th into the creek, which runs the length of the hole, Hatton could be clearly heard swearing at the face of his driver.

Following a penalty drop, he scored a seven before covering the front nine in 36 to complete a 73, which left him one under – seven shots off the lead held by Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas.

“It wasn’t my finest moment on the course but I mean, yeah, running hot in the moment – I’m pretty good at sometimes saying the wrong thing. So yeah, I’ll leave it at that,” said Hatton.

It is not the first time his temper has been seen on the course.

The world number 20 was called a “terrible influence” by Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray after snapping a club and complaining about course conditions during the DP World Tour Championship in November.

On Thursday, some players at Quail Hollow – including world number one Scottie Scheffler – complained about mud balls, where golf balls get covered in mud and dirt during bad weather.

Preferred lies – a rule sometimes used during periods of adverse weather that permits players to lift, clean and place their ball within a specified distance of its original position on closely-mown areas – were not sanctioned for use by the PGA of America.

Lowry’s tee shot on the eighth hole pitched on the fairway and bounced sideways into a divot left by another player, which meant he was not allowed the relief for an embedded ball that would have applied had it been in his own pitch mark.

“You hit a lovely tee shot, you’re not expecting that,” said world number 10 Lowry.

“I was obviously very annoyed with that because I felt like I had quite a bit of momentum going in the round, and standing there with 40 or 50 yards to the pin off the fairway it’s an easy pitch shot for me – and I walk away making bogey.”

Lowry was particularly unhappy with the unsolicited input of an on-course reporter, adding: “The ESPN guy was a bit too involved when he wasn’t asked to be and that’s what annoyed me a lot.

“He came straight over and said: ‘That’s not your pitch mark.’ That’s not for you to talk about, it’s for me to call a rules official and decide what happens.

“I wasn’t arguing that it was my pitch mark, I was trying to be 100% sure because imagine if I come in [after the round] and all of a sudden somebody told me that was my pitch mark.

“They told Brooks [Koepka] his ball was OK yesterday and it was on the driving range, so you need to be careful about what you’re doing because there’s so much at stake.”

Bbc.com