Shane Lowry is aiming to win the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open for the first time as a pro having managed to win the competition as an amateur back in 2009, but ahead of the event in Portstewart this weekend he finds himself baffled by an unusual decision by the European Tour to not only allow mobile phone photography on the course, but encourage it.
A competition is being run on Twitter and Instagram for the four days of play, where the person who uploads the best photo taken on the course will win '£500 worth of gear'.
This is the first European Tour event where spectators will be allowed to take photos on their phones, so rather than just allow it to happen, they want folks to take pictures.
Tag your photos on Twitter or Instagram with #MyDDFIrishOpen
Competition is for fans on-site at Portstewart and runs Tuesday-Saturday. pic.twitter.com/ifDiJyDTjo— DDF Irish Open (@DDFIrishOpen) July 1, 2017
Although they are doing their best to ensure that everyone remembers to put their phone on silent and not be a distraction, that is an extremely optimistic line of thinking considering a number of people that will be in attendance.
Add in the extra incentive of free shit? People are going to be snapping in their droves.
This is something Shane Lowry is aware of, as he told the Irish Examiner that the idea was ridiculous.
I think that's just ridiculous. There's going to be carnage this week for myself and the other Irish guys.
What a bad week to trial something like that. There's going to be 20,000-25,000 people out on the course.
Statistically, there's going to be a certain percentage of those people who won't have their phones on silent. They're going to use it anyway. There’s going to be carnage.
His feelings are totally understandable. What is so strange is that there are so many other ways to run a competition on social media, without encouraging the use of phones during play.
Lowry also took issue with the music being played during morning warm-ups, where he produced this beauty of a quote:
Trying to warm-up at half-six in the morning on the range and One Direction comes on.
You're thinking, 'ah, come on, I'm only barely out of bed.'
We would absolutely love to see Lowry get the win this weekend, so if you are making the trip to Portstewart, maybe leave him to play in peace, or at least be very sure that the phone is on silent.
[via Irish Examiner]
