Bryson DeChambeau’s future in The Open was thrown into uncertainty on Friday night after a two-shot penalty triggered an angry confrontation with tournament officials.
Asked whether the American might take the extraordinary step of pulling out following his second-round 66 at Royal Birkdale, his representative Brett Falkoff offered little reassurance, saying: “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Falkoff said a final decision would be made on Saturday morning, before adding: “He’s a lot of things, but he’s not a cheater. He’s a big boy. He’ll see how he feels. But he certainly feels he was unfairly penalized.”
DeChambeau had surged to within a single stroke of leader Lucas Herbert when he was told officials had reviewed television footage that appeared to show him improving his lie in thick rough on the fifth hole during that second round.
The ruling set off an extraordinary sequence lasting more than an hour, with DeChambeau insisting he be driven by buggy back to the scene of the incident, where he angrily challenged two rules officials.
The 32-year-old was clearly furious as he denied any wrongdoing over what chief referee Grant Moir later described as an “inadvertent improving of the area” behind his ball.
Bryson DeChambeau became involved in a heated dispute with rules officials during The Open
The LIV Golf star was taken back to the fifth hole as officials reviewed whether he had improved his lie
Footage of the original incident showed DeChambeau wading through the long grass before planting his right foot directly behind his ball – an act that flattened the fescue and would have allowed an easier backswing.
After failing to satisfy officials that there had been no improvement to his lie, DeChambeau demanded to Daily Mail Sport photographer Kevin Quigley to ‘stop taking pictures’ before embarking on a further 30-minute discussion with tournament bosses in the scorers’ hut.
Eventually, he emerged with a greeting of ‘how’s your evening’ to more than 50 waiting reporters before making no further comment on his way to the driving range, where he signed an autograph for a single waiting fan. His range session finally ended at 10.30pm local time – 40 minutes after it started.
The fact he continued working on his swing would suggest he intends to resume his challenge for the Claret Jug on Saturday, but Falkoff’s remarks injected doubt.
Falkoff added: ‘The only comment I’ll make is that they just felt that he was not careful enough in walking around a sensitive area around his golf ball, so that he improved his swing path when the swing path was not even anywhere near the grass.’
DeChambeau will return on five under par, three behind Herbert, who equalled the lowest ever round at a major with a 62 – later matched by Sam Burns, who sits in a tie for fifth on five under, alongside DeChambeau.
Chief referee Moir said: ‘Bryson has been penalized two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing, so intended backswing on the 5th hole when he was playing his second shot.
‘Ruling 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. So an improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke.
Before long, DeChambeau’s score on the official leaderboard was changed to 68
At the end of the dramatic saga, he sat in a tie for fifth – three shots off leader Lucas Herbert
DeChambeau raised doubts about his continued participation in The Open this weekend
‘Now, I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.’
The astonishing episode came after DeChambeau had apparently silenced Sir Nick Faldo’s pre-tournament barb that he brought ‘zero strategy’ to links courses. By carding scores of 67 and 66, prior to the latter being downgraded to a 68, he has established himself as a serious contender here. Now, his pursuit will draw even more attention after such a fevered conclusion to his second round.
While he was bashing balls after dark on the range, Herbert was reflecting on the round of a lifetime – he almost broke the major record outright only to miss a five-footer at the last. Having missed the cut three times in five previous cracks at the Open, the Australian, 30, ripped Birkdale to shreds in the favourable morning conditions.
Attention was only routed to the LIV after he completed the front nine in just 28 strokes. Thereafter he was followed by galleries three-deep.
‘One of my earliest golf memories was my dad waking me up to watch Chad Campbell in the first round in the 2009 Masters because it looked like he had a really good chance to shoot 62 and break the record at that time,’ Herbert said.
‘I sort of thought, if one kid gets woken up by their parents to watch me finish this round because that’s the record being broken, that would be so cool, and it would tickle me pink. I hope it happened. I hope some kid’s disappointed that I shot 62 and didn’t hole that putt on the last.’
Herbert will doubtless draw popular support, helped partly by having an English caddie, Nick Pugh, who is distinctive for his huge beard. As a quirk, he was also ordained as a means of officiating Herbert’s wedding last year.
It was impossible not to be charmed by that tale, even as the novelty was quickly accompanied by Burns, the American Ryder Cupper and Scottie Scheffler’s closest mate.
Herbert leads the rest of the field by two clear shots, having headed to the clubhouse at -8
He had the chance to be the first man in history to shoot 61 in a major championship
We are better used to Burns’s challenges for majors – the 29-year-old was seventh at the Masters and runner-up at the US Open last month. He putts like a machine and is on the cusp of his breakthrough, but here’s another detail: his daughter was born three days early on July 3, and had she arrived on the due date he would have swerved this tournament. As it transpired, he only decided to play last Friday.
Out of that rush, he has soared. His birdies on each of the final three holes matched Herbert’s 62, with the flourish of holing his last from a nasty bunker on the 18th. Unlike Herbert, a history buff who felt a record was possible from the third hole onwards, Burns didn’t know he had tied it until he left the course.
Detailing his late decision to play, he said: ‘I think it was probably last Friday (that he made the call). I thought there was zero percent chance of competing but my agent was like, “I’m just going to sign you up just in case”. I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play, and here we are.’
At six under lurk Cameron Young and Jackson Suber, with Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm poised two further behind. The latter received a conduct warning after lobbing a club on the 15th hole of his 67. Matt Wallace, Bob MacIntyre and Alex Fitzpatrick lead the British charge at four under.
As for Rory McIlroy, he is driving well but his 67 was modest progress in the easier morning conditions. He will resume seven behind, but there will at least be some consolation from knowing the calibre of player that fell below the projected cut at one over par.
They included the winners of the past two majors – Wyndham Clark and Aaron Rai – as well as the hyped home challenges of Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick. Rose could blame a bad neck; Fitzpatrick was left to bemoan a series of unlucky bounces and an inconveniently-placed bush on the sixth. His younger brother Alex might spare him some tips for next time.
Those stories all had certain amounts of merit during a chaotic day, and each was resoundingly eclipsed by how it ended.
