Shane Lowry storms out and declines media requests after throwing away Truist on PGA Tour
Shane Lowry declined media requests as he stormed out of $20m Truist Championship following an agonising defeat to Sepp Straka.
Shane Lowry declined media requests and stormed out of the Truist Championship following an agonising defeat to Sepp Straka on the PGA Tour.
Lowry, 38, threw away a golden chance of a first individual PGA Tour title since the 2019 Open Championship in the final round at Philadelphia Cricket Club.
The Irishman briefly held the outright lead as early as the 1st hole in the final round of the latest $20m Signature Event.
The final round turned into something of a ding-dong battle between the European Ryder Cup teammates.
Straka, 32, pulled two shots ahead before Lowry pulled the deficit back to level with three holes to play.
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But a sloppy bogey by Lowry on the par-3 16th handed the initiative to Straka.
Lowry then left himself a 25-footer on the par-4 18th to try and force extra holes, but his birdie attempt never threatened and ended up seven feet past the hole.
He missed the return and tapped in for a costly bogey-five.
Lowry walked aside with his head in his hands as Straka tapped in for par from four feet to secure a two-shot win.
It marked the second title of the season for Straka, and another big missed opportunity for Lowry, who ended up in a tie for second with Justin Thomas.
To Lowry's credit, he hugged and congratulated his European Ryder Cup teammate on his $3.6m pay day and fourth career win on the PGA Tour.
But the disappointment on his face was there for all to see.
Lowry trudged off the back of the green, signed his card and then stormed out of Philadelphia Cricket Club, refusing all media requests.
Lowry recently claimed players should have the opportunity to have ‘a cooling off period’ before answering questions from the press.
He told reporters at The Masters last month he 'wasn't going to talk about Rory McIlroy for 10 minutes' after a poor finish to his third round.
Only this time, there was no cooling off period.
Lowry left the Truist Championship without saying a word to the press.
Collin Morikawa recently did similar when losing out to Russell Henley at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
Morikawa had zero regrets, either.
Although Morikawa took some pelters in the industry for shunning media requests after another close call on the PGA Tour, he was soon defended by Rory McIlroy, who claimed players don't owe the media anything.
Despite a second runner-up on the PGA Tour this season, Lowry can take consolation from having nudged himself up two spots in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) to 10th.
Oh yeah, and small change of $1.76m for finishing in a tie for second.
Lowry now turns his attention to this week's PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
He came closest at the PGA with a T4 in 2021.
Straka also moves up to a career-best ninth in the world rankings.
The Austrian joins McIlroy as the only multiple winners on the PGA Tour.
Straka also won The American Express in January.
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