Players Weigh In On Bryson DeChambeau's Controversial Open Penalty

The fallout from the late controversy after the second round of The Open, where Bryson DeChambeau was given a two-shot penalty, continued into Saturday at Royal Birkdale.

The LIV Golfer was handed the penalty after he was deemed to have inadvertently improved the area of his swing from the long rough at the fifth.

That came after DeChambeau had been asked to return to the scene of the infringement with a rules official to determine what had happened.

Even before confirmation of the ruling, DeChambeau’s frustrated body language suggested the debate wasn’t going in his favor, and later, there was even speculation that he might not tee it up on Saturday because of the penalty.

That didn’t transpire, but DeChambeau’s disappointment with the decision, combined with his sky-high profile and the fact he went from solo second to a tie for third, meant it was still a big talking point during Moving Day, not least among his rivals.

One player who weighed in on the issue was Rory McIlroy, who said of DeChambeau: “Yeah, look, I won't pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I'm not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it's performative. I think a lot of it's for attention.

"To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn't feel like it was a great look."

However, he was far from the only one with opinions on the matter.

Because there was uncertainty over whether DeChambeau would even play on Saturday, it delayed the publication of the third round tee times, something that didn’t go down well with Marco Penge.

He said: “Yeah, it was a bit of a joke really.

“I'm staying at home this week, which is an hour away, and not getting a tee time until 11:00 p.m. is not great, really, when the tournament probably finished at - we could have at least got a heads up for what time the first tee time was going to be.

“Obviously there was a lot of commotion, so that delayed things.”

Other players were more concerned with whether the correct decision had been reached.

Xander Schauffele appeared to sympathise with DeChambeau, saying: “It's a tough one. Who knows. I have no idea, to be honest. I'm assuming you talk to Bryson - I haven't spoken to him or heard what he said, but he's just stepping in how you'd normally step in to hit a golf shot.

“I think The R&A said something along the lines of whether it's intentional or not, it's still a penalty.

“It's a tough spot to be, obviously, when you're in high brush, kind of having to dance around to get to your golf ball is a tricky thing. It's not something we're used to doing that often.

“You imagine you give him the benefit of the doubt; he said he didn't do it intentionally, and it's unfortunate that he got penalized because he was playing incredibly well and obviously he's still playing incredibly well, so he's obviously going to have something to prove these next two days.”

Max Homa was even more explicit, saying he didn’t agree with the ruling. He explained: “I'm not really, I guess, wanting to be able to decide on fair, because they're the rules officials.

“I only saw one angle, and in my opinion I didn't agree with the ruling. I know there's another angle that - side on, it's always hard to tell if it improves anything.

“All I know is I've known Bryson for a very long time, and he's an interesting human at times, but I know he would never cheat the game of golf.”

He added: “I just don't think that's in his character, so it's a shame I think that's kind of how it's being portrayed to some.”

Russell Henley was less sure, saying: “Yeah, I saw the video of it. Not being there being able to see it, I don't really have a strong opinion.

“Clearly they're talking about he improved his backswing. I don't know what it looked like before he came back over there or if the bush came back up after he stepped on it. But yeah, that's a tough one for him.”

Henley also believes DeChambeau’s high profile worked against him. He added:“The issue with that to me is the fact that he's on TV every shot.

“If I played that hole yesterday, you might not have seen - and I did the same thing, maybe they don't penalize me because maybe they don't see me do it. That's the tough part; he's on TV every single shot.”

In the TV studios it was a big talking point, too, with Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee making it clear on Friday he didn’t have sympathy for the player.

He said: “There were multiple infractions here. He just danced all over the path behind the golf ball… He did everything but lay down behind it or take a weed wacker to the tall grass behind it.”

At the start of NBC Sports’ Saturday morning coverage of the third round, lead analyst Kevin Kisner gave his thoughts, too

He said: “Obviously from the Bryson standpoint, nobody likes to see him walking in there like he’s a WWE wrestler going in to his first match, high-stepping through there on the high grass. No other player is doing that.”

However, he had a slightly different take, focusing on what could have cleared the controversy up far earlier.

He added: “I wish the walking official was over there during this. Every group has a walking official. Why is he not a part of this?

“It was obviously an awkward situation. We have officials in every group, he should be over there so we’re not having to do all of this post round.

“If the walking official is there he could explain to everyone and had eyes on it so we didn’t have to use video cameras. I think that was a big miss.”

What do you think about the ruling? Have your say in the comments below.