SOUTHPORT, England — Everyone knows returning to the scene of the crime makes you look guilty.
In one of the more bizarre scenes in major championship memory, at the completion of his second round Bryson DeChambeau took Open Championship rule officials on a field trip to the fifth hole at Royal Birkdale to discuss allegations of rules breach that would, in the end, cost the golfer two strokes heading into the weekend at the season’s last major.
“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,” R&A Executive Director of Governance Grant Moir told reporters at the end of a fantastical ordeal.
Following a rather unbelievable televised argument between DeChambeau and rules boss Moir, it was determined that the two-time major champion stomped around in the long grass enough to illegally create a better stance and swing than the golf course would have otherwise allowed before hitting his recovery shot at the short par-4.
As a result, DeChambeau’s score was changed from a bogey five to a triple-bogey seven, and he heads to the weekend in a tie for fifth place at five-under rather than playing in the final group with leader Lucas Herbert on Saturday.
“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,” Moir said. “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’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”
Already one of the biggest stories of the day thanks to his stellar play, DeChambeau’s post-round theatre took Friday at Royal Birkdale to a new level of absurdity.
During the televised dispute DeChambeau could be seen furiously arguing his case and seemed completely incredulous that he was facing a penalty. At one point he appeared to say “I’m not going to play tomorrow,” although it took some lip reading from broadcasters and media to decipher that and the comments were not confirmed.
After returning from their off-road adventure, DeChambeau and the rules officials went back inside the scoring tent for half an hour. Minutes before Bryson re-emerged, the official scoreboard adjusted his score and the answer to whether or not he would face a penalty was clear.
DeChambeau didn’t take any questions as he left, asking reporters a question instead.
“Are you guys having a good night?” he asked with a grin as he walked through the horde of media waiting in near-darkness just before 10 p.m.
Improving the area of his intended swing
Rule 8.1 governs playing the course as it is found, and what a player can and can’t do in the process of taking a stance and playing a shot.
“A player is allowed to fairly take their stance by taking reasonable actions to get to the ball and take a stance,” Moir explained. “If in some situations that improves the condition 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 would reiterate this rule applies even when there’s no intention to improve the area, as was the case with Bryson,” he added. “That’s all I have to say.”