Going to rant about golf rules for a second (Shane Lowry)

Saw it with the volume on mute. Did he get a 2 stroke penalty because it happened twice on practice swings? If it moved once, why isn't it just a single stroke as if he hit the ball

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Saw it with the volume on mute. Did he get a 2 stroke penalty because it happened twice on practice swings? If it moved once, why isn't it just a single stroke as if he hit the ball

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It’s 2 strike penalty because he didn’t catch it at the time and assess a 1 stroke penalty.

I think

The thing that pissed me off about it was the commentators made it about them and having video evidence and non-stop talk for at least 4 holes. The Open, and any other tournament should be about the players and not the commentators.

I was taking a lunch break and saw it live on TV. Live I didn't notice it, but once it was zoomed in a put in slow motion; yes, the ball moved during his practice swing. But to the normal eye is it noticed? Did it improve his lie? I don't think so and it was not intentional. At the end of the day, the rules are the rules but again the commentators made it all about them.

End Rant.

ETA:

I've rewatch video of the ball movement and it was very insignificant. As others have said why two stokes instead of just. The second being because he didn't replace his ball to the original spot. My question is he said didn't see it, but let's assume he did and called a rule's official over to discuss the movement. How do you assume he can move the ball back what 2-4 mm and still have the same lie.

Why does the rule state you need to place it back in its original spot? Give a stroke for the swing that moved the ball, and the movement of the ball is covered by that stroke. Now not reporting the stroke on your score card is a penalty. And not being able to see that without slo-mo replay is likely going to lead to him not putting the stroke down. But sounds like he got the penalty before signing score cards (could be wrong there).

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Assessing him a 2 stroke penalty is ridiculous. I know it is the rule and they are just following the rule, but it’s a dumb shite rule. If they can use cameras to assess a penalty they can use a camera to have context and realize there is no reason to penalize him

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It really is a fricked up situation.

First, to me it appears the ball was sitting on a twig/thick piece of grass that he clipped with his practice swing causing the ball to move. If anything hurting his lie and clearly unintentional, however, he's a idiot for being that close with his practice swing in that lie.

Second, maybe 5% of the field has the camera coverage to even catch the ball movement. Doesn't make sense to me to punish a player for being popular/relevant.

Third, the rules need to govern field not a single situation. You let this slide and eventually you'll have Patrick Reed playing lift, clean, and place while telling you it was an unintentional oscillation.

IMO, is it fair? Probably not. Thankfully, besides a few bucks out of his pocket, it's not really going to change anything.

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I think my vision is off bc I did not notice anything.

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the ball moved when he made his practice swing.

No doubt about it.

I finally saw it.

I don’t believe he actually saw it move.

But it did.