Rory McIlroy made it known that he wasn’t a fan of Bryson DeChambeau or his act.
About 24 hours after DeChambeau suffered a rules violation after he was seen trampling the grass around his ball on the par-4 5th on Friday and, in essence, improved his lie, McIlroy said his piece.
DeChambeau was given a two-shot penalty, and McIlroy believes that, while the back-and-forth with the R&A officials was going on, the rest of the tournament was unfairly at his mercy.
“Late night for everyone. Yeah, look, I won't pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I'm not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it's performative. I think a lot of it's for attention,” McIlroy said. “To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn't feel like it was a great look.
“I think there's no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing. Again, it's like, whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don't think it matters. Hopefully it was careless, but I think the two-shot penalty was justified for sure.”
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DeChambeau is one of the most complicated figures in sport. He is performative, but that’s part of his mass appeal — to the tune of 4.5 million followers on Instagram and nearly 3 million on YouTube. He’s also an awfully good golfer, with two majors to his credit already. DeChambeau's firmly in the mix at The Open Championship, just four shots back of the 54-hole lead held by Sam Burns, whom he played with Saturday.
He’s also the only golfer who is inside the top 10 on the leaderboard who has won a major before.
The main character energy from DeChambeau, however, is many things: equal parts unconventional and talented. Irritable and brilliant. He’s more of a scientist than an artist, too, and coming into The Open, he had missed all three cuts at the majors so far in 2026. We don’t know what’s going on in DeChambeau’s head at Royal Birkdale, as he refused to speak to the on-site media again Saturday after he shot a 1-under 69.
Per Today’s Golfer, DeChambeau was seen in an “animated” discussion with R&A chief executive Mark Darbon and was, according to reports, requesting his second-round scorecard. Presumably for content of his own. That request was denied.
So we hear from McIlroy instead, amongst others.
Some came to DeChambeau’s defence like Max Homa (“I've known Bryson for a very long time, and he's an interesting human at times, but I know he would never cheat the game of golf. I don't really love how it happened”) while others held judgement for down the road, like Scottie Scheffler (“I was playing with him yesterday. I don't really have a ton to say on it. Actually, I do have a ton to say. I haven't decided exactly what I want to say publicly yet.”)
This is rare in golf — a real rivalry. When was the last time you heard a golfer — or any athlete, really — come right out and specifically say he was not a fan of another in his sport? On the record and with the knowledge that it would be clipped and shared widely?
McIlroy said there was “obvious evidence” that DeChambeau deserved what he received from the R&A.
It may have been a pseudo war-of-words (one-sided in this case, at least), but on the scoreboard DeChambeau has the advantage — sitting four shots up on McIlroy, who is at 2 under heading into Sunday’s finale.
They’re all chasing Burns, however, whose 62-65 over Friday and Saturday mark the lowest total across any two rounds in men’s major history.
Burns has a delightful story of his own heading into the week — with his wife due Tuesday of The Open, it was actually more than likely he would have not even been playing this week. Alas, his wife gave birth to a daughter, Belle, on July 3 — almost two weeks early. Burns played with DeChambeau on Saturday and said he was impressed with how much “grit” he showed after all that unfolded with the sun going down Saturday.
Winning takes care of plenty — the homesickness of a new father, in the case of Burns, and the anger of an over-acting global star in the case of DeChambeau.
There’s much golf left to be played still on Sunday at The Open, and a champion will be crowned.
But the overarching saga that will define this particular Open Championship will continue for some time.
