Bryson DeChambeau has released a short statement on social media expressing his anger after receiving a two-shot penalty for a contentious rules breach at The Open Championship, but he has moved to allay any concerns that he might withdraw from the tournament.
Penalty Incident at Royal Birkdale
The American appeared to have closed to within a stroke of the halfway lead, backing up his opening-round 67 with a birdie-birdie finish to post a four-under 66 and narrow the gap on leader Lucas Herbert at Royal Birkdale before being called in to meet with rules officials. He was deemed to have accidentally improved his lie while standing in dense rough at the par-four fifth after an errant tee shot. DeChambeau protested his innocence during a tense discussion, but was ultimately penalised under rule 8.1, turning what had been a bogey into a triple-bogey seven.
DeChambeau's Response on Social Media
Despite fears he might walk away from the tournament, the 32-year-old has indicated on social media that he intends to continue. 'Obviously disappointed with the ruling,' he posted on X. 'I don't agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let's get it.'
R&A Official Statement
An official statement from the R&A confirmed DeChambeau was issued a two-stroke penalty for his actions on the fifth hole. Referee Grant Moir said: 'So Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his swing, so his intended backswing, on the fifth hole when he was playing his second shot. Basically, I'm going to explain the technicalities of the rule here for you. Ruling 1 restricts what the 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. Now I will stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case.'
Details of the Rule Breach
'The area of the intended swing includes the entire area that might reasonably affect the backswing, the downswing or the completion of the swing for the intended stroke. And, importantly, what the prohibited action here is, that the player mustn't move, bend or break any growing or attached natural object. A player is allowed to fairly take their stance by taking reasonable actions to get to the ball and take a stance if, in some situations, that improves the conditions affecting the stroke. But when doing so, the player must take the least intrusive course of action to deal with the particular situation, and is not entitled to a normal stance or swing. I reiterate, this applies even when there's no intention to improve the area, as was the case with Bryson. That's all I have to say.'
Impact on Tournament Standing
Before sharing his brief statement on social media, DeChambeau was quizzed by a journalist about whether he would be teeing up on Saturday. The LIV Golf star walked straight past without acknowledging the question, while his agent, Brett Falkoff, was posed the very same query. Falkoff replied: 'Let's see if he shows up late tomorrow afternoon, your guess is as good as mine.'
The penalty knocked DeChambeau from T2, just a single stroke behind Herbert, all the way down to T5, where he now finds himself at six under par alongside Sam Burns and South Korean star Kim Si Woo.
