Shane Lowry fumes over costly ruling as Aussies stumble at PGA Championship

Shane Lowry took a swipe at the ground and flipped the bird at his ball after a costly ruling went against him in the second round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

On the par-4 eighth hole, the Irishman's ball came to rest in a pitch mark left in the fairway by a rival.

Golf rules stipulate a player can get relief if their ball is embedded in their own pitch mark – that is to say the plugged ball can be taken out of the hole – but not one left by another player.

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Made to play the ball as it lies by a rules official, Lowry chunked his next shot into a bunker.

"F--k this place," he shouted as he slammed his wedge into the ground.

Lowry played a great third shot out of the bunker and came within centimetres of making the par putt. He flipped his ball the one-fingered salute as it came to rest next to the hole.

To rub salt into the wound, Lowry would go on to miss the cut by a shot. He said the ruling was a "kick in the teeth".

"I feel like I've played the last two holes beautifully and gave myself two lovely chances and to be honest," Lowry said.

"I didn't think I needed to make birdie in the last, I thought 2 over was probably going to be good enough."

While playing the ball as it lies is one of the core rules of golf, relief from divots and pitch marks in the fairway is one of the most widely-debated rules in the game among professionals and amateurs alike.

Lowry, the world No.10, was one of six of the top 10 players in the world who missed the cut — two-time PGA winner Justin Thomas (No.5), Ludvig Aberg (No.6), Hideki Matsuyama (No.7), Russell Henley (No.8) and Sepp Straka (No.9).

Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas signed for a 1-under 70 to maintain his two-shot lead.

Elsewhere, it was a tough day for the Aussies.

Kiwi Ryan Fox is the best of the antipodeans, shooting an even-par second round to go into the weekend at 4-under, four back from the leaders in a 10-way tie for seventh.

Adam Scott and Cam Davis are two shots further back. Davis had a share of the clubhouse lead in the first round but made only one birdie and four bogeys to sign for a 3-over 74.

After a 1-under first round, Elvis Smylie carded a 2-over second round and snuck into the weekend on the number.

They are the only ones to make the cut. Min Woo Lee, Jason Day, Cameron Smith, Karl Vilips all missed out.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele barely kept his incredible cut streak alive, but only just.

Schauffele shot an even-par 71 to make the cut on the number at 1-over, extending his streak to 64 tournaments. He hasn't missed a cut since the 2022 Masters.

It's the longest since Tiger Woods' 142-event run that started in 1998 and ended in 2005.

It was a nailbiter for sure and Schauffele said he knew he was "in trouble" when he dropped to 3 over for the tournament early in the round. But he holed a chip to save par on the par-5 seventh hole after finding the water, and then made birdie on two of the final seven holes to secure a spot in the field this weekend at Quail Hollow.

"It was hard for me," Schauffele said. "Some guys made it look really easy there and I thought I was going to be one of this guys. Hopefully those are my bad two rounds of golf and I can shoot something nice and low this weekend."