Joint Open leader Shane Lowry singled out TV commentary from Jay Townsend as the cause for being distracted on the 17th tee late in second round at The Open here at Royal Portrush.

Lowry was all set to lauch his drive down the 17th when Townsend’s American accent on a nearby TV screen forced Lowry to back off his tee shot.

“There’s a little tented village with a TV screen about 80 yards from the tee box, and I could hear Jay Townsend commenting on my shot,” said Lowry.

Shane Lowry hits off the 18th tee after a hole earlier being distracted by the voice of American Jay Townsend, a former no-name European Tour player.

“Just on my backswing he said, He’s got 295 to the top of the hill. Yeah, that put me off. But I got lucky, I got a great break and managed to make par.”

While Townsend cannot be blamed he is a former ‘little-known’ European Tour player who contested 217 tournaments between 1985 and 1998 to record to just one second place finish but has since taken on a ‘know’s all’ role working in the media.

Indeed, Lowry was leading golf’s oldest major at the time having moved to 9-under par after a brilliant opening 10-hole display of six birdies, including racing to three-under par for his round thanks to a hat-trick of birdies to commence his day’s play.

Lowry dropped a shot at 14 ahead of falling back into a tie for at eight-under par with American JB Holmes (68) and former European No. 1 Tommy Fleetwood (67).