SerpApi.Org
Bryson DeChambeau’s controversial two-stroke penalty cost him $279,887 at the Open Championship.
The two-time U.S. Open winner was issued a two-stroke penalty during the second round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale after the LIV Golf star questionably matted down the grass in his backswing. He argued that he was reading his line by standing directly behind the ball.
He also threatened to withdraw from the tournament due to the penalty after he climbed to solo second on the leaderboard at the final major of the season. It’s the first time he’s seen the weekend in a major championship this season.
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He went straight to the range after R&A officials notched his name down the leaderboard, ignoring reporters and causing third round tee times to be delayed because of the eyes on the altercation.
Many players spoke out regarding the matter, including Scottie Scheffler who said ‘he's not a cheater,’ and Rory McIlroy who said the act was ‘performative.’
DeChambeau followed up the penalty by saying it pushed him even more on the golf course in inspiration to win, but he fell just short of the title and landed in T-14 place, earning himself $234,325.
Without the two-stroke penalty, DeChambeau comes away with $514,212 and a tie for sixth place alongside Casey Jarvis, Lucas Herbert, and Si Woo Kim.
DeChambeau has shied away from reporters since the incident, but many former Tour stars, including Scheffler, said this is a deeper matter than a quick penalty because nearly all of DeChambeau’s shots are shown on the broadcast.
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“I think maybe we need to be a little bit more strict in the way that we are policing guys, but it's a little bit of a balance because you've got certain guys like a Bryson who every shot he hits is going to be shown on TV,” said Scheffler. “When you have camera angles that are far away, things can look different than they do when you're right there.
“All I'll say is Bryson, I've known him for a long time, and he's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater. I've never seen him cheat once, whether we were having a putting contest on the putting green or chipping contest, or anytime we played amateur golf, I never saw anything suspicious.”
DeChambeau now tees it up at LIV Golf UK this week.
