Bryson DeChambeau has voiced his frustration on social media after a two‑shot penalty for a controversial rules breach but eased any fears he might quit. DeChambeau looked to have moved within a shot of the halfway lead, backing up his opening‑round 67 with a birdie‑birdie finish to card a four‑under 66 and close in on leader Lucas Herbert at Royal Birkdale, before being summoned to speak with rules officials.
He was judged to have inadvertently improved his lie while standing in thick rough at the par‑four fifth following a wayward tee shot. DeChambeau pled his innocence in a heated exchange, but was ultimately penalised under rule 8.1, turning what had been a bogey into a triple‑bogey seven.
While there may have been fears he could quit the tournament, the 32‑year‑old has suggested otherwise on social media. “Obviously disappointed with the ruling,” he wrote on X. “I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it.”
An official statement from the R&A confirmed DeChambeau was handed a two-stroke penalty for his action on the fifth hole. Referee Grant Moir said: “So Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his swing, so his intended backswing, on the fifth 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 the 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 will stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.
“The area of the intended swing includes the entire area that might reasonably affect 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 conditions 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 reiterate, this applies even when there’s no intention to improve the area, as was the case with Bryson. That’s all I have to say.”
Before posting his short statement on social media, he was asked by a reporter whether he would be playing on Saturday. The LIV Golf star strode straight past and ignored the question, while his agent, Brett Falkoff, was asked the same thing.
Falkoff responded: “Let’s see if he shows up late tomorrow afternoon, your guess is as good as mine.”
DeChambeau’s penalty dropped him from T2, just a shot behind Herbert, all the way down to T5, where he now sits at six‑under alongside Sam Burns and South Korean star Kim Si Woo.