'F*** this place!' — Shane Lowry fumes over embedded ball at Quail Hollow

Shane Lowry had pleaded his case with a rules official but was given no relief. 

PITCH BATTLE: Shane Lowry frustrated by embedded ball during second round at PGA Championship.

Shane Lowry's dislike of Quail Hollow looks to have turned to open disdain after the Offaly man was left irate after being denied relief for a ball that was left embedded in a pitch mark during Friday's second round.

Fighting to make the cut after an opening-round 73, Lowry was moving in the right direction at 1-under for his round when he reached the eighth. But, in a week where the splodgy surfaces in Charlotte had left the pros railing against mud balls, Lowry's drive landed, bounced a couple of times and plugged into another player's pitchmark.

Shane Lowry is not enjoying Quail Hollow pic.twitter.com/04OWw4VXzm

— Fried Egg Golf (@fried_egg_golf) May 16, 2025

Seen discussing his case to a rules official, Lowry was given no relief and then sent his approach into a green-side bunker. He immediately smashed his wedge back into the turf and was picked up on a fairway microphone appearing to say “F*** this place!” and following up with a few more expletives.

When he chipped out and missed a long par putt to card a bogey five, the mood hadn’t brightened and he then looked to give his ball the middle finger.

This rules official will not be receiving a Christmas card from Shane Lowry. pic.twitter.com/D7Ed9Z1n6G

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) May 16, 2025

After signing for a level-par 71 which ultimately wasn't enough and missing the cut by just a single stroke Lowry said that an overly eager fairway reporter had been the focus of his frustration in the incident. 

"You hit a lovely tee shot and you’re not expecting that”, said Lowry, who is unlikely to ever be in a hurry to get back here. 

“I was just very annoyed with that, obviously. I felt I had quite a bit of momentum going around and I felt standing there with 50 yards to that pin, it’s an easy pitch shot for me. Then I walk away making bogey.

“The ESPN guy was a bit too involved when he didn’t have to be, and that’s what annoyed me. A lot. I was just asking the referee, and the ESPN guy comes straight over saying, ‘That’s not your pitch mark.’ “I’m like, ‘That’s not for you to talk about, that’s for me to call a rules official and decide what happens'. I just said to the rules official, ‘What happens the guy who’s at 7.10am and not on ESPN live?’ I guarantee he’s down there arguing it’s his pitch mark."

Mud had been a bug bear for many players during the opening two days but the PGA Championship organisers insisted the world's best had to play it as it lies. Lowry insisted he wasn't seeking preferential treatment in this instance. 

“I don’t want a drop because it’s not my pitch mark. I’m just saying. And it goes back to I’d a lot of mud balls again today," he added.

“It looked like a fresh pitch mark I was in, but it also looked like there was a fresh one beside it. I wasn’t arguing it was my pitch mark, I was trying to be 100% sure. Imagine if I came in and all of a sudden someone told me that was my pitch mark.

“There’s one guy’s producer saying it is, but they told Brooks [Koepka] his ball was okay yesterday and it was on the driving range. You need to be careful about what you’re doing because there’s so much at stake.”