SHANE LOWRY was penalised after bizarre ball-marking gaffe during a second-round at a tough US Open.
The Offaly native was left red-faced during his second round at Oakmont after committing crazy rules breach that even took him by surprise.
The Irishman accidentally picked up his ball on the green without marking it on the 14th hole at Oakmont Country Club.
He was docket penalty-shot due to the incident.
Lowry, who was already nine-over after an opening-round 78, endured a nightmare start to round two with three bogeys and a double in his first four holes.
But the low point came on the par-4 14th, when after chipping well past the hole, he walked over and lifted his ball before putting down a marker.
TV cameras caught the error as his caddie Darren Reynolds looked on in disbelief.
Lowry immediately realised the mistake, replaced his ball, and called over a rules official to accept a one-stroke penalty.
The rules of golf state: “If the player lifts the ball without marking its spot, marks its spot in a wrong way or makes a stroke with a ball-marker left in place, the player gets one penalty stroke.”
He later admitted the error was a lapse in concentration
When asked about the incident, Lowry said:
“Probably one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done.
“I just picked the ball up, had the ball in my hand, turned around to Darren and he basically said to me: ‘What are you doing?’
“Yeah, I put it back down and marked it and got on with it. I knew it would be a penalty, just wasn’t sure if it would be one or two (shots).
“By then maybe my mind was somewhere else. But I still tried over every shot, and that’s all you can do on a week like this.”
Earlier in the round, Lowry had also been caught voicing his frustration after missing a par putt on the par-5 fourth, muttering:
“F* this place, f*** this place.”
Despite sharing a few laughs with McIlroy over his mistake, Lowry ended the tournament at 17-over-par (157 total), missing the cut by a wide margin.
