Bryson DeChambeau hits range after making case against 2-shot penalty at Open
Bryson DeChambeau decided to hit golf balls after arguing with R&A officials about improving his lie on the fifth hole at Royal Birkdale. DeChambeau was docked two strokes for breaching the R&A's rule.
Video Transcript
And you see it, Bryson is at five under par and three shots back.
I'm not sure what his defense is.
Do you know what his defense is?
'Cause it's quite clear he stood in his line of play behind and, and the long grass was bedded down.
Yeah, I can't imagine what his defense was, but he was making his case pretty strongly with the officials.
And you're right, he's playing some great golf.
Yeah.
You know, y- you, you sort of contrast this in, with the evidence being so irrefutable, I can't imagine what his case was and, and why he didn't say, "You're right.
I didn't mean to do it, but clearly I did do it."
Yeah.
"Take the, take the breach, take the shots."
Sort of the same way Cameron Young did earlier this year at Doral, the second hole when he clearly Well, it wasn't that clear.
Only he saw it.
But he backed away mid-swing because his ball moved a dimple.
Called a rules official over.
Jose Carrido came over, talked to Cameron Young.
Jose gave Cameron Young, the bad news.
Cameron Young took it like a man, knocked it onto the green, made the putt for par, carried on and won the golf tournament.
Well, it's clear he's not gonna be pulling out of the tournament.
He's gonna hit some golf balls and- It was a ball and well, that's good news.
It's good for the tournament, it's good for golf.
It would've been a, a really, really poor thing if he'd had done that.
No matter how much he feels wronged, the evidence is very strongly a- against him.
And as you say, Brandel, you put it very well there, it's not like he did this on purpose.
Sometimes you do it without consciously knowing what you're doing.
You should be very clear of the rules.
There's no excuses as a golfer.
We know how sensitive it is to stand behind a ball, but sometimes it's done.
Well, there's the There's after he's, he's backed up.
He's trampled on it initially.
He got up to it, backed up to ostensibly look at his line, but he was trampling all over the grass behind his line, and then as he was coming in, stepped on it one more time.
And by then, the damage was already done.
He would make bogey on this hole.
It's a short par four.
There's Mark showing.
See, see what Mark's showing?
He said you addressed it and then you stood directly behind it.
That's Mark there.
That's just illustrated to him what he did.
And what would Bryson be arguing with- I, I- the gusts right here?
That, that the grass was so far behind my ball that it didn't affect my play, my, my line of play.
He's heated here.
Or he looked like maybe he was saying, "I was gonna take the ball to the left or, or take the club back to the left of the weeds" and purposely got them tangled up in it.
And those of you who were watching coverage on USA, we welcome you.
And just to reiterate, Paulie and Brandel- Oh you guys both feel the two shots, handed out, Rule 8.1.2, this man, Bryson DeChambeau, as we watch him live on the range, you both feel the two shots absolutely justified.
I do.
I mean, incontrovertibly, he was in breach of Rule 8-1 that says quite clearly you cannot, your actions cannot in any way move, bend, or break the area around your golf ball.
You cannot improve the conditions affecting the stroke, and it was clear that his actions were improving the conditions of his stroke.
He has a way of being the center of it all, doesn't he?
And Paulie, for those, and we know how the world operates these days, m- might think that, you know, the press is out to get Bryson, the officials are out to get Bryson.
What would you say?
I, I don't think Bryson Look, I don't think he's helping himself.
You know, he took umbrage against the comments that were made about him having no strategy.
And rather than taking the moral high ground on that and going, "Well, wait a minute, I shot 78 in the first round of The Open Championship last year.
I then came back and I shot 65, 68, 64 in the next three rounds in Royal Portrush to finish in the top 10.
I think I know what I'm doing on links golf courses.
A- as great as Nick Faldo is, they're my views.
I think I know what I'm doing.
I have a different strategy and approach Open Championships differently than Nick Faldo."
Doing that, going to the media with a smile on his face, he would've won the situation, but he, he, he didn't take that.
And, he's made a bad situation worse here by not accepting the penalty with a bit of grace the way that, Brandel says there Cameron Young would've done.
So 10 minutes ago, it was seven to the left of DeChambeau's name, and he was just behind Lucas Herbert, who shot 62 today.
Missed a five-footer for the first ever 61 in major championship history.
That's, you know, 21 minutes after Herbert signed for his 62.
Sam Burns holed a bunker shot for 62.
We'll show you all of that as we move along, here on live from.
Rich Lerner with Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley.
So it appears that DeChambeau, has calmed down.
How do you reset, refocus and- Well- reminder, he, he's smack in the middle of this tournament- I was gonna- with a long way to go.
Yeah, absolutely, Rich.
I mean, from this moment on, he needs to do everything he can to calm down and prepare himself for the weekend.
He is very much in the hunt, especially the way he is playing.
He finally, the way I understand it, got his irons approved.
He put 'em in play this week.
It was something that was ongoing with him all year long.
His iron play had been atrocious in the three major championships that he played in this year where he missed the cut.
His iron play has been absolutely sublime through the first two rounds here.
He's been dazzling around the greens.
He could do, with a bit more fairways hit on the weekend, but he did drive it better today than he did yesterday.
And again, he's still very much in this tournament.
The only thing that could keep him from it is if he comes out tomorrow, agitated, and distracted from what happened today.
On the other hand, Paul, he could use this as sort of a chip on his shoulder going into the weekend.
