Shane Lowry Shocks With Foul-Mouthed Outburst at PGA Championship

Shane Lowry was unable to hide his frustration at the PGA Championship on Friday, May 16.

Lowry, 38, was on the eighth hole at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., when his tee shot landed in a pre-established divot in the fairway, per Golf.com. Lowry, who is ranked No. 10 in the world, spoke with a rules official after the ball first landed. But the officials didn’t budge, and he had to continue by hitting from the divot.

Once he did so, he tore up the area around the divot. He then took his club directly to the gap and slammed into it, taking out a huge chunk of the turf. “F— this place!” said a frustrated Lowry, before he put up his middle finger at the ball after he finished the hole with the putt.

Despite the eight-hole hiccup, he was able to recover to par the next three holes, The New York Post reported.

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Lowry’s Friday outburst follows the incident at the 2023 Players Championship, when he snapped a club over his knee, per Golf Digest. As well as the heated exchange he had with a cameraman at the Open Championship in 2024, per CNN.

Lowry’s Friday frustrations came after his competitors had been discussing the mud balls they had been facing following the heavy rain that hit the golf course earlier in the week.

On Thursday, May 14, Scottie Scheffler expressed frustration over the PGA of America’s decision not to play preferred lies during the PGA Championship first round. Scheffler, 28, walked off course on Thursday with a double-bogey 6.

“I understand how a golf purist would be, oh, ‘play it as it lies,’ ” he said, per Sports Illustrated. “But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance.”

“When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up,” he added.