Actor Rob Lowe, playing golf in Iowa Wednesday, landed himself a birdie, but it wasn’t the kind he could tally on his score card. While attempting a chip shot at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Lowe’s golf ball hit a bird and not just any bird — a goldfinch which is Iowa’s official state bird.
“I went to the closest law enforcement guy I could find and asked him if I’m going to jail,” Lowe said after the round, “so I think before they can catch me, I’m flying back to Los Angeles.”
Lowe currently appears in the TV show “Brothers and Sisters” and told reporters he thinks the “goldfinch incident” might be worthy of an episode. “I’m going to have them write the bird story into the show,” Lowe joked, “I’m literally calling them on the way to the airport.”
Lowe, who was raised in Ohio, was partnered with Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta in the Principal Charity Classic Pro-Am and Lowe was sporting a Hawkeye ball cap on the golf course. Lowe said his brother is a big Ohio State Buckeye fan, “My brother’s going to kill me for this, but, you know what – I’m here, and I gotta support the locals.”
Lowe calls himself a “political junkie” who is jealous of Iowans and their role in the presidential selection process. “There’s nowhere in the world that you get what you all are so lucky to get,” Lowe said of the Iowa Caucuses. “I’m always really envious of Iowans and their access to the process.”
In fact, Lowe is promising to attend either the Iowa Straw Poll or Iowa Caucuses, but he won’t publicly endorse a candidate. Lowe supported Arnold Schwarzenegger is both of his runs for Governor of California, but Lowe said since he’s playing a politician on TV, he wants to “stay out of the fray” because he doesn’t want it to impact the way viewers feel about his character.
Click on the audio link below to hear Lowe speak with reporters following his round — and his birdie — on the Des Moines-area golf course.