Ryder Cup 2023: Shane Lowry made an expensive bet with his teammate—it immediately backfired

ROME—Wednesday was the first day the place felt like a Ryder Cup was in town. The crowds were bigger and more boisterous. A jovial, but nervous energy flowed between players. And perhaps more so than other days, each team felt more bonded than in the days previously.

For Shane Lowry, that didn't turn out so well.

Lowry's main task was playing the back nine at Marco Simone Golf Club. He was joined by Tyrrell Hatton, Ludvig Aberg, and Robert MacIntyre.

On the first tee, Lowry and Hatton — who played together in 2021 — played a fourball match against the two rookies.

When they arrived on Marco Simone's reachable par-4 16th hole, Lowry and Hatton were losing—badly. So, Lowry turned to Aberg and offered some new stakes: Double or nothing. The original stakes were $200 a man. This would raise the rookies' potential winnings to $400.

"Sure," Aberg said.

With Hatton and MacIntyre still yet to arrive on the tee, Aberg was first to hit. He pegged his ball in the ground, stepped up to the ball, and floated a high fade with a fairway that dropped just left of the hole's from left pin, and trickled softly past the pin. He'd have a 10-foot putt for eagle.

Lowry, smiling, shoot his head after seeing what his new teammate had just accomplished. Laughing, the Irishman turned to the crowd:

"Oh for f--ks sake!", he said.

The crowd erupted in laughter and started cheering. Aberg grinned himself, and Lowry joked that Aberg could put his soon-to-be increased winnings towards a new car. Aberg's caddie joked that was good news, because his car has a bad habit of leaking oil."

"Well, [Aberg] certainly isn't leaking any oil today." Lowry quipped, as the pair walked down the 16th fairway.

It was all in good fun, and while the ending of this story doesn't have an inexpensive conclusion for Lowry, it does have a happy one: Come Friday, the two won't play against each other anymore. Aberg will be America's problem.