Paul McGinley Sends Brutal Message to Shane Lowry on his Open Set-Up Comments

The Golf Channel analyst labelled Lowry’s call to have a couple of tees pushed forward on Saturday “nonsense” after the 2019 Open Champion was mildly critical of how the R&A had set Royal Troon up in bad weather

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Paul McGinley believes Shane Lowry will “regret” the mild criticism he expressed towards the R&A’s set up of Royal Troon on Saturday following the third round of The Open Championship.

With a six-over-par 77 in the books, which saw Lowry drop from the top of the leaderboard by two to four back of overnight leader Billy Horschel, the Irishman let out a little frustration at the sheer length of some holes while winds of 30mph were forecast at certain points

Lowry said: “Look, I don’t really know what to say. It was a grind. It wasn’t much fun. Driver, driver into 15. 16 playing ridiculously long. Driver into 17.

“Then you’re standing on the 18th tee wondering if you can actually hit the fairway, if you can reach the fairway, and it’s 230 yards to the fairway. Bear in mind my driver pitched about 220 yards on the 17th hole.

So, yeah, it’s not much fun out there. Circumstantial as well, it’s obviously very difficult. But you’d have to question why there wasn’t a couple of tees put forward today, to be honest.

“I think 15 and 17 — like 15 is 500 yards playing into that wind, it’s — yeah, they keep trying to make holes longer, yet the best hole in this course is about 100 yards.”

But McGinley – who was in the field at County Louth Golf Club as Lowry won the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur with a helping hand from adjusted course conditions – did not agree with the Major winner’s assessment and speculated that he would “regret” the comments after likely feeling emotional at the end of what was a tough day.