Angry words were exchanged between golfers Robert MacIntyre and Kyle Stanley after Stanley failed to shout "fore" after a pair of wayward shots struck spectators during their round.

Scot MacIntyre claimed that American Stanley hit a steward on the shin at the 14th hole during their round, then hit a spectator after missing the fairway on the 17th.

That spectator turned out to be the mother of MacIntyre's caddie, Greg Milne.

Stanley declined to apologize and labeled the incident "kind of a non-issue."

"I'm not really sure why he decided to make such an issue about it," he told reporters after the round.

"As far as I'm concerned a number of people yelled 'fore.' He made the argument that since I hit the ball it should have come out of my mouth first and I guess I can see that.

"It's unfortunate it ended up the way it did. It certainly wasn't my intention to put anyone in harm's way. I had my wife in the gallery, my coaches. I'm surprised it's come to this point."

Also on rt.com The Open 2019: Is a Shane Lowry championship victory a statistical inevitability?

MacIntyre, meanwhile, was less than impressed with his playing partner's conduct during the final few holes.

"There's a few things I wasn't happy about today," he said.

"And coming down the last I wasn't happy with one on 17.

"Playing partner doesn't shout 'fore.' The ball is going in the crowd. We're shouting as it's coming down into the crowd and he's just standing, watching it.

"People don't have enough time to react after we shout. It hits Greg my caddie's mum. I think she's all right, but it's not what you want. And so I told them how it was."

MacIntyre said that Stanley "didn't take it too well," and admitted: "It wasn't too pleasant, but you've got to tell them."

But Stanley said he didn't take too kindly to being lectured about playing etiquette by a rookie, and said the whole episode left a bad taste in his mouth.

"When you talk about the boundaries of etiquette in golf it's kind of a touchy situation," he said.

"To paint somebody in a bad light not playing within the etiquette of the game, you've got to be careful when you do that.

"When you tell your story you've got to make sure you've got all the details and from what I read last night he didn't do that.

"He's a young player and I've been out here a while. I don't feel I need to be schooled in the laws of golf."