Get up to much last night? Nah. Me neither. We just had to cover arguably the biggest rules controversy at The Open since Ian Woosnam’s caddie put one too many drivers in his bag in 2001.
Bryson DeChambeau was remarkably given a two-shot penalty for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing on the 5th hole. He was given the penalty after being shipped back out to the golf course after round two at Royal Birkdale.
The decision was made after footage of DeChambeau walking on the long grass around his ball was circulated on social media. As Grant Moir of the R&A stated, unintentionally improving the area is still cause for a penalty.
I wanted to get the mood of Birkdale the next morning, a cloudier, less scorching morning on the Southport links. What is crucial to understand, and what some fans on the ground still didn’t understand, was that intent in this case is irrelevant.
I can’t print what some fans told me, but what I can is absolutely fascinating. When necessary, I showed them a few angles from video of DeChambeau walking around his golf ball. It was a melting pot of sympathy for DeChambeau, but also agreement with the R&A’s call that the area around DeChambeau’s ball had been improved.
The first fan I spoke to, a man from Leeds, confessed he was not a rules-of-golf expert, but, based on the footage, he believed Bryson had been treated harshly. I chatted to Paul from Edinburgh after that, who believed these things become a ‘trial by television’.
Paul is friends with an official at the R&A, who had messaged him yesterday evening with simply – ‘Quite a night’.
It has been the case before where fans have phoned in, or things have been noticed on the television broadcast that have then grown arms and legs on X (formerly Twitter). Jackson and Don from North Carolina alluded to that.
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Jackson pondered if controversy follows DeChambeau wherever he goes, as a two-time major winner and LIV Golf player, but also an extremely divisive figure when it comes to fan favour.
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Following the official announcement of the penalty, there were numerous reports that DeChambeau intended not to play in the third round. Some fans online interpreted from the footage that he had said as much to the R&A officials.
David and Andrew from the northeast thought it was unfair, but Andrew felt that once the ruling had been given, the protestations should’ve stopped. When the officials ferried DeChambeau back to the scene of the ruling, the American appeared visibly annoyed, and later stated on social media that he didn’t agree with the judgement.
“Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. On to the weekend. Let’s get it.”
I then came across three Scousers enjoying a home Open, who believed the ruling was harsh – especially the severity of a two-shot penalty that took DeChambeau three shots away from leader Lucas Herbert, instead of one, after two rounds. Them’s the rules once it’s passed down, I’m afraid.
Another group of three from Liverpool told me they were asking the wrong people, and were looking for the beer tent. 11 am wasn’t too early for them.
I came across a group from Minnesota who all agreed that the R&A handled it well, and the area where the ball was had been improved. It’s always interesting to get the perspective from both sides of the Atlantic.
But what about Northern Europe? Emil and Mikaela from Stockholm in Sweden actually started laughing when I showed them the clip of DeChambeau stepping on the long grass and into his stance. They weren’t the only ones.
Two guys from Derby couldn’t help but chuckle when I showed them the same footage.
Craig from the south of England felt the R&A acted fairly, and that if you trample down grass even on a subconscious level, the rule was applied correctly. Mark from the Wirral used the word ‘clumsy’, and Tom from Yorkshire used the word ‘careless’ to describe DeChambeau’s actions.
Tom interestingly compared the fiasco with Dustin Johnson’s penalty at the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, when on the 18th hole in the final round, he was judged to have grounded his club in a bunker off the edge of the 18th fairway. He didn’t know the sandy patch was a bunker. He fell out of contention as a result with a two-shot penalty.
Walking the dunes with Mungo, they both concluded with the phrase: ‘rules are rules’.
As you might imagine, talking to some fans about this was extremely entertaining. ‘The Tarraby boys say fair cop’ is what one of them told me to write. The same member of this Cumberland group also started stomping around as if he was putting out a fire, mimicking DeChambeau.
In many cases, the sympathy-o-meter wasn’t exactly in overdrive.
Four men from Philadelphia were celebrating one of their 50th’s, and did so in matching sky-blue plus-fours, with the guy’s face plastered on them with an Augusta hat on. They didn’t have a problem with the penalty DeChambeau was administered.
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Again, though, I saw contrast. A father and son from Dublin had great sympathy for the man they call the Scientist. They felt he was unlucky to have been hit with such a costly blow, having shot a super 66 in the blisteringly hot conditions of Friday.
There is also a mild consensus that had he taken the penalty without remonstration, then the crowd here on the Merseyside coast would be behind him today.
What today will bring, and indeed the final round of the 154th Open, will be absolutely fascinating.
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