Shane Lowry didn't hide his anger towards caddie Brian 'Bo' Martin on Saturday after botching his lay up shot as he struggled to stay in contention at the Masters.
Lowry, 35, opened up his bid at Augusta with rounds of 73 and 68, leaving him five shots off leader Scottie Scheffler ahead of the third round. However, by Sunday that deficit was up to seven, as the Irishman could only card a 73.
Frustratingly for Lowry, his usually reliable short game deserted him on several occasions. In blustery conditions, the 2019 British Open champion regularly misjudged chip shots and putts whistled by, and he would have walked off the 18th undoubtedly sensing a missed opportunity.
Although there was one particular mishap where he clearly felt the blame lay with caddie Martin. On the par-five 13th, one of the holes regularly targeted for a birdie in the Masters. After finding the fairway with his drive, the Irishman then hit his second shot just 125 yards as he looked to lay up.
That still left him 119 yards to the pin, clearly more than he intended. To compound matters, he hit his next wedge shot over the green before taking his anger out on his right hand man.
And by the sounds of it, Lowry clearly felt Martin had given him the wrong advice on yardage. "Left myself no shot," he could be heard saying.
"What a f****** s*** yardage that was. Well done, well done Bo. Only 30 yards out. Well done." It left the Ryder Cup player having to get up and down from just under 50ft.
He failed to do so, three-putting to fall back to three under par. He then dropped another shot over the final five holes and cut a despondent figure on the final green.
It's not the only time the pairing have clashed on the course this year. At the Abu Dhabi Championship in January, Lowry aimed at the wrong sign on the 18th.
He ended up 30 yards left of where he wanted to be. Afterwards he told reporters: "Yeah, myself and Bo, we were aiming at the HSBC sign, but his one was 30 yards right of the one I was looking at."
The pair's relationship has been a strong one though, with Lowry paying an emotional tribute to Martin after winning at Royal Portrush three years ago. He became the fifth Irish player to lift the claret jug after Fred Daly, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Rory McIlroy.
His bid for a second major isn't over yet as he lies joint fourth behind Scheffler [nine under], Cameron Smith [six under], and Sung-Jae Im [four under]. However, he'll need to shoot low in his final round to have any chance.
