Bryson DeChambeau has been given a two-stroke penalty after the second round of The Open Championship, while in the thick of contention.
In incredibly dramatic circumstances, DeChambeau was judged to have accidentally improved his lie in thick rough on the 5th hole at Royal Birkdale.
This concerns Rule 8.1, which refers to the player’s actions that improve the conditions affecting the stroke. To support the principle of ‘play the course as you find it’, the rule restricts what a player may do to improve any of these protected ‘conditions affecting the stroke’ for the next stroke the player will make:
- The lie of the player’s ball at rest,
- The area of the player’s intended stance,
- The area of the player’s intended swing,
- The player’s line of play, and
- The relief area where the player will drop or place a ball.
After shooting a 66 and reaching 7-under-par, one shot behind Lucas Herbert, DeChambeau’s score on the short par 4 was revised from a bogey 5 to a triple-bogey 7. The penalty took him back to five-under-par and four shots back.
The two-time US Open champion hit his drive to the right of this drivable par 4, and into thick, tall grass. Video footage appeared to show DeChambeau stepping on the long grass near where his ball was.
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After the second round, DeChambeau was ferried back out to the area on the 5th hole where his tee shot was found.
With the rules officials, DeChambeau appeared to be in a rigorous discussion over the situation, at times with his arms out wide and his hat off in apparent exasperation.
He was then taken back to an office behind the Birkdale clubhouse, near the media centre. He remerged, refused to speak to the media, then went to the driving range.
It was then that Grant Moir of the R&A officially announced the two-shot penalty, emphasising that the LIV Golf star’s actions were accidental.
To this point in the season, the American had missed all three cuts at the majors. After shooting three-under in round one on Thursday, he also refused to speak with the media.
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There have also been reports to suggest that he might not even play in the final round; however, after 10 pm, he was still on the driving range hitting balls, allegedly whistling and humming, courtesy of a report from Kevin Van Valkenburg, and offering food to the media standing watching him.
This was the full statement from Moir:
“Bryson has been penalised 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.
“Basically, I’m going to explain the technicalities of the rule here for you. 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.
“Now, I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case. The area of intended swing includes the entire area that might reasonably affect any part of 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 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. That’s all I have to say.”
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