Bryson DeChambeau walked off Royal Birkdale on Friday believing he’d carded a four-under 66, good enough for solo second and a Saturday date in the final pairing. By the time he reached the practice range, that scorecard was a memory and his place in the 154th Open Championship was suddenly in question.
R&A officials assessed DeChambeau a two-shot penalty under Rule 8.1 for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing on the par-4 fifth hole, where he’d driven into waist-high fescue beyond a red penalty area and chose to play the ball as it lay. The ruling turned his bogey into a triple bogey, his 66 into a 68, and dropped him from seven under — one shot off leader Lucas Herbert — to five under, tied for fifth with Sam Burns and Si Woo Kim, three strokes back.
The review lasted more than 15 minutes on the hole itself, with DeChambeau and caddie Greg Bodine accompanying officials back to the fifth to reenact the sequence. Television cameras captured DeChambeau gesticulating, demonstrating his movements, arguing his case. Then came another lengthy session in the scoring hut before chief referee Grant Moir delivered the verdict.
“Bryson has been penalized two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing,” Moir told reporters. “Rule 8.1 restricts what a player may do to improve any of the protected conditions affecting the stroke, and this includes the area of the player’s intended swing.” Moir stressed that the rule applies “even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.” Players may take a reasonable stance, he said, but “must take the least intrusive course of action.”
NBC analyst Jim Furyk, watching the footage live, offered a counterpoint on the telecast: “My guess is what Bryson’s saying is that the grass was well behind the ball, that the club is getting picked up very vertically. He had that ball well back in his stance. You could see the grass was not in his swing.” R&A rules official Charlie Maran countered on the same broadcast: “You have to take care around the ball. It’s about whether or not his actions were improving his lie.”
DeChambeau left the scoring area without addressing reporters, repeating “I’m going to go hit some balls” as he walked toward the range. His agent, Brett Falkoff, did the talking — and what he said turned a rules dispute into a potential withdrawal story.
Falkoff told reporters that DeChambeau was undecided about continuing in the championship and would make a decision by his Saturday tee time. “He’s a big boy. He’ll see how he feels,” Falkoff said. “But he certainly feels he was unfairly penalized.” The explanation DeChambeau received, per Falkoff, was that he “wasn’t careful enough walking around a sensitive area” and “wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt.”
“He’s a lot of things,” Falkoff added. “He’s not a cheater.”
Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers noted on X that cameras appeared to catch DeChambeau telling someone — unclear whether officials or his representation — that he was “not playing” Saturday. As of Friday evening, however, DeChambeau remained on the tee sheet for a 3:30 p.m. local time start alongside Sam Burns. Jackson Suber, not DeChambeau, moved into Saturday’s final group with Herbert.
Two strokes. That’s the margin between contention and an uphill grind on a links course that doesn’t care about your resume. The film doesn’t lie — but in this case, two different people watched the same footage and saw two different things.
Sources:
- Yahoo Sports / HEAVY — DeChambeau Hit With Two-Shot Penalty
- Yahoo Sports / HEAVY — Did DeChambeau Threaten to Not Play?
- Golf.com — DeChambeau Penalty at Open Championship