Shane Lowry has been putting up a show at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, delivering one stellar shot after another. But while his game has been catching fire, so has something else—his accuracy, or rather, the lack of it in one unfortunate moment.

In a bizarre and painful twist, a volunteer—standing all by himself—became an unintentional target for a wayward Lowry shot. It all happened when Lowry was teeing off from the par-4 15th. The ball struck the person directly, leaving fans wincing at the sheer misfortune of it.  As for Lowry’s moment, an X user, Rick Golfs, captured the televised moment and shared it online.

This moment comes right after Lowry impressed everyone with his hole-in-one at Pebble Beach’s iconic par-3 seventh hole during Thursday’s first round. He pulled out a wedge from 113 yards, landed it about 25 feet short, took a firm bounce, and watched it roll straight into the hole. His best friend Rory McIlroy, who finally ended up winning the signature event, joined him in the spotlight with a slam-dunk hole-in-one on the 15th hole at Spyglass Hill.

Now, moments like this aren’t exactly rare in the golf scene. Take the 3rd round of the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge for example. A fan sitting in the gallery got smacked by a tee shot from Pierceson Coody on the 14th hole. The ball landed right in his lap, and he looked at it for a second, then dramatically fell back in his chair, holding his breath, like he’d just seen a ghost. But that does not mean fans are ever getting used to such instances.

They had plenty to say about the mishap, with many expressing concern for the volunteer.

Fans express concern, calls out Shane Lowry 

The first reaction was what anyone watching the clip would think: “Ouch. Hope they are okay,” a user wrote. But then, there was another issue—how the situation was handled. Or rather, how it wasn’t. “And the cameraman follows the ball, not the human being falling to the ground…” a fan pointed out. 

During the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in France, spectator Corine Remande was struck in the eye by a stray tee shot from Brooks Koepka. The impact caused serious damage, leading to the loss of vision in her right eye. She later shared that it could’ve been a lot worse and that the blow could have been fatal.

Another user called Lowry out directly: “No shout of fore, then he launched it into the crowd on 18 again and no shout of fore again. Disgrace.” They aren’t wrong to point it out. It’s a basic courtesy when on the course. When you’re launching a golf ball at 100+ mph, maybe just call it out if it’s heading toward people. It’s not a hard rule, but it’s kind of an unwritten one. And yet, when shots go sideways, silence somehow takes over.

Should Lowry have yelled “fore”? One fan took the stance that this wasn’t necessary: “I don’t understand the people who get offended by the player not yelling “fore” in this situation. The ball was ~5 yards off the fairway and well inside the ropes. How is he suppose to know it may hit someone? Should they yell on every tee shot that’s going to miss the fairway?” A valid argument. Golf is unpredictable, and not every shot is an immediate danger.

One fan couldn’t help but notice how not serious the reaction was: “Seldom see this. Although it’s not funny, I did laugh. Surprised they didn’t flash back to see if he was ok” Because yeah, in any other sport, they’d be cutting to a slow-mo replay of the guy wincing in pain while the commentators gasped in horror. But here? We just… move on. And of course, someone had to take a cheeky shot at Lowry:  “I guess he needs to brush up on his ball-spotting skills.” Ouch, that’s a tough one.

At the 2018 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a female spectator was struck in the head by a tee shot from Tyrrell Hatton at Kingsbarns. The incident resulted in a bleeding head wound, proving that golf shots can be dangerous. More recently, during the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, Jon Rahm’s tee shot on the 12th hole veered off target and hit a fan in the head, causing injuries and sparking conversations about spectator safety.

At the end of the day, this was one of those unlucky moments in golf. Hopefully, the guy is okay. And as we know, 100 bad days = 100 stories, so at least the guy got a story to tell—though something tells us he might not be signing up to spot at Pebble again anytime soon.