Bryson DeChambeau Rules Violation Creates Chaos at The Open

Bryson DeChambeau has made the cut at a major championship for the first time this year—but not without a dramatic situation that created a chaotic finish to the second round of the Open Championship.

After shooting 66 at Royal Birkdale on Friday to vault up into second place at -7, DeChambeau was assessed a two-stoke penalty by the R&A, which operates the Open, for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing during his second shot from the tall fescue rough on the Par-4 fifth hole. R&A rules officials informed DeChambeau of the decision when he went into the scoring tent after completing his round. That dropped him down to -5, which is tied for fifth place with Sam Burns and Si Woo Kim.

DeChambeau pleaded his case with the rules officials for nearly an hour after the round, which led to an on-the-spot pivot from USA Network and Golf Channel’s end-of-day coverage plans. USA Network’s second-round coverage was supposed to end at 3:30 p.m. ET, but the network stayed on the air well after the final group finished—until about 4:40 p.m. ET—to cover the DeChambeau situation. A re-run of Law & Order was the USA Network programming following golf.

Golf Channel’s post-round show, Live From The Open Championship, was delayed as USA Network stayed with the DeChambeau situation, and began shortly after 4:40 p.m. ET. Instead of beginning with its customary highlights package, Live From went straight into analyzing the DeChambeau incident. Both Golf Channel and USA Network are Versant-owned channels and use the same on-air talent for golf coverage.

As of Friday evening in England, DeChambeau’s agent was telling reporters the golfer was undecided whether he would play in the third round Saturday since he didn’t agree with the ruling. NBC has coverage over the weekend, and the DeChambeau situation could draw more viewers for the final major of the men’s golf season, especially if DeChambeau stays near the top of the leaderboard heading into Sunday’s final round. Before the two-stroke penalty, DeChambeau was set to play in the final group of the third round alongside leader Lucas Herbert, who is a fellow LIV Golf member.

The Open’s rules chief Grant Moir, who is R&A executive director of governance, explained the DeChambeau ruling late Friday. 

“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.”