DECHAMBEAU HIT WITH TWO-STROKE PENALTY AT THE OPEN
American Bryson DeChambeau picked up a two stroke penalty in the second round of The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. (Photo: Stuart Franklin/R&A/ Getty)
Bryson DeChambeau's challenge for the Claret Jug became more difficult after he was ruled to have “inadvertently” improved the intended area of his backswing and subsequently hit with a two-stroke penalty last evening by R&A rules officials at The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
The ruling was delivered after a lengthy post-round review, and despite the American’s clear frustration with the explanation and decision, it meant his bogey five at the fifth was changed to a triple bogey seven, as he dropped from outright second on seven-under into a tie for fifth on five-under.
The decision transformed his four-under 66 into a 68 to be three off the lead set by overnight leader Lucas Herbert from Australia.
The controversy centred on DeChambeau's second shot from thick rough right of the fifth hole. R&A officials determined that he had “inadvertently improved the area of his intended backswing before playing the shot”, a breach of Rule 8.1 of the Rules of Golf.
R&A referee Grant Moir explained that intent was not the deciding factor:
"Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended backswing on the fifth hole when he was playing his second shot," said Moir.
Moir said Rule 8.1 is designed to protect the conditions affecting a player's stroke, regardless of whether any improvement is deliberate.
"Rule 8.1 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. 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. I'll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case."
TV footage prompted officials to review the incident after DeChambeau had completed his round, leading to an animated discussion between the player and R&A representatives that lasted more than one hour.
The LIV Golf star strongly contested the decision before eventually accepting the penalty. Posting on social media afterwards, DeChambeau described himself as "obviously disappointed with the ruling" and added that he did not agree with it but vowed to use the setback as motivation heading into the weekend.
The ruling overshadowed a remarkable second day at Royal Birkdale, where Herbert and Sam Burns both equalled the men's Major championship record with rounds of 62. Yet the main talking point was all about DeChambeau, leaving the two-time US Open champion with more to do if he has designs on lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday.