Bryson DeChambeau is pure cinema. Wherever he goes, whatever he says, whether you like him or not, for better or worse, he makes people pay attention.
This year, it’s been for worse at the majors. DeChambeau missed the cut in each of the three so far in 2026, but he rolled in a lengthy birdie on his final hole of the day and was primed to join the final group for Saturday at The Open Championship.
And then he wasn’t.
Almost two hours after he finished his round, it was determined that DeChambeau had suffered a two-shot penalty on the fifth hole of the day and had dropped from 7 under and in solo second to 5 under and into a three-way tie for fifth.
DeChambeau spent a good chunk of the time after his round had concluded pleading his case with R&A rules officials, as a viral video of his actions on No. 5 gave followers on social media and tournament organizers pause — had DeChambeau improved his lie?
DeChambeau hit his drive into the native area on the right-hand side of the short par 4 and then hit a provisional, assuming the first was lost. His first tee ball was found, but as DeChambeau was lining up his shot and assessing his situation, it appeared as if he may have trampled the long grass behind his ball.
He was able to chop it out and two-putted for bogey – a fairly solid result on the scorecard considering where he was off the tee.
But the movement around and over his ball prompted the R&A to believe that he could have been in violation of a rule and improved his lie, even though it was unintentional.
DeChambeau argued his story and was, per Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, attempting to tell the R&A that despite the fact that, yes, the grass had been pushed down, the direction of the grass had no impact on the direction of the shot he was hitting.
Grant Moir, the R&A executive director of governance, said DeChambeau had indeed been penalized two strokes for “inadvertently improving the area of his 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. Now, I'll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case,” Moir said. “The area of intended swing includes the entire area that might reasonably affect any part of the backswing, the downswing or the complaining of the swing for the intended stroke…
“I would reiterate this rule applies even when there's no intention to improve the area, as was the case with Bryson.”
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DeChambeau was asked if he was going to play Saturday and smiled, according to reporters in England, but did not reply. After he spent about 30 minutes in the scoring area, DeChambeau faced a throng of reporters and did not answer any questions but did pose one of his own – “Are you guys having a good night?”
DeChambeau’s agent, Brett Falkoff, told some reporters at Royal Birkdale that the R&A felt as though he was not careful enough with where he had stepped around the ball and he had indeed improved his swing path.
Asked, as well, if DeChambeau would even play on Saturday, Falkoff said, according to Golfweek, “your guess is as good as mine.”
Falkoff continued to say that it would not be a team decision but one that DeChambeau makes on his own.
“He’s a big boy. He’ll see how he feels. But he certainly feels he was unfairly penalized,” Falkoff told The Fried Egg.
DeChambeau was still hitting balls into the dark of the summer night and didn’t leave the course until about 10:30 p.m. local time.
DeChambeau took to social media late — just after midnight local time — to post his frustration with the ruling, but it does appear he will tee it up Saturday.
"Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it,” DeChambeau wrote on X.
DeChambeau would have been in the final group with Lucas Herbert, who is leading the championship after tying the low round ever shot at a men’s major, a 62. Instead, he will be three shots back of the lead heading into Saturday and will be paired with Sam Burns in the third-to-last group.
