Bryson DeChambeau confirmed he will contest the third round of The Open following a dispute over a two-stroke penalty at Royal Birkdale. The 32-year-old double US Open champion had raised the possibility of withdrawing after his second-round score of 66 was downgraded to a 68.
DeChambeau's agent, Brett Falkoff, initially refused to rule out a withdrawal. However, DeChambeau is now scheduled to tee off at 3.30pm on Saturday, sitting five under par and trailing tournament leader Lucas Herbert by three strokes.
Posting on social media, DeChambeau stated: "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."
The controversy began after television footage flagged a potential rules breach during DeChambeau's second round on Friday. After finishing his round, DeChambeau was taken by buggy back to the fifth hole, where he engaged in a heated discussion with two rules officials.
Footage showed DeChambeau walking through long grass on the fifth hole before placing his right foot directly behind his ball. Tournament officials ruled that flattening the fescue grass improved his intended swing path.
During the confrontation at the hole, DeChambeau told Daily Mail Sport photographer Kevin Quigley to "stop taking pictures". He then spent 30 minutes in discussions with tournament officials inside the scorers' hut.
Upon leaving the hut, DeChambeau greeted waiting reporters by asking "how's your evening" before heading to the practice range without further comment. He signed an autograph for one fan and remained on the range practicing until 10.30pm.
Chief referee Grant Moir explained the decision to penalize the LIV Golf player. Moir stated: "Bryson has been penalized two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing, so intended backswing on the 5th hole when he was playing his second shot."
Moir noted that Rule 1 restricts actions that alter protected conditions affecting a stroke. He added: "Ruling 1 restricts what a 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'll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case."
Agent Brett Falkoff commented on the penalty: "The only comment I'll make is that they just felt that he was not careful enough in walking around a sensitive area around his golf ball, so that he improved his swing path when the swing path was not even anywhere near the grass."
DeChambeau's performance and Faldo comments
The penalty left DeChambeau tied for fifth place on five under par. Prior to the ruling, his rounds of 67 and 66 had answered pre-tournament comments from Sir Nick Faldo, who claimed DeChambeau brought "zero strategy" to links golf courses.
Lucas Herbert takes clubhouse lead
While DeChambeau practiced late into the evening, Australian golfer Lucas Herbert took the lead after shooting a round of 62 to reach eight under par. The 30-year-old equalled the lowest round in major championship history, though he missed a five-foot putt on the final hole that would have set an outright record of 61.
Herbert, who had missed the cut in three of his five previous Open appearances, made the turn on the front nine in 28 strokes. He is caddied by Englishman Nick Pugh, a bearded caddie who was ordained to officiate Herbert's wedding last year.
Reflecting on his round, Herbert recalled watching golf as a child: "One of my earliest golf memories was my dad waking me up to watch Chad Campbell in the first round in the 2009 Masters because it looked like he had a really good chance to shoot 62 and break the record at that time," Herbert said. "I sort of thought, if one kid gets woken up by their parents to watch me finish this round because that's the record being broken, that would be so cool, and it would tickle me pink. I hope it happened. I hope some kid's disappointed that I shot 62 and didn't hole that putt on the last."
Sam Burns matches major scoring record
American Ryder Cup player Sam Burns matched Herbert's round of 62 later in the day, holing out from a bunker on the 18th hole to complete birdies on his final three holes. Burns, who sits tied for fifth at five under par alongside DeChambeau, did not realize he had tied the major record until leaving the course.
Burns had only decided to travel to the tournament on Friday after his daughter was born three days early on July 3. He explained: "I think it was probably last Friday (that he made the call). I thought there was zero percent chance of competing but my agent was like, 'I'm just going to sign you up just in case'. I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play, and here we are."
The 29-year-old, who finished seventh at the Masters and runner-up at the US Open last month, sits three shots off the lead.
Championship leaderboard standings
Cameron Young and Jackson Suber sit two shots off the lead at six under par. Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm are four under par, with Rahm receiving a conduct warning after throwing a club on the 15th hole during his round of 67.
Matt Wallace, Bob MacIntyre, and Alex Fitzpatrick lead the British players at four under par. Rory McIlroy shot a 67 to reach one under par, leaving him seven shots behind Herbert heading into the weekend.
Several high-profile players missed the projected cut of one over par, including recent major champions Wyndham Clark and Aaron Rai. Justin Rose missed the cut while dealing with a neck injury, while Matt Fitzpatrick missed out following issues with a bush on the sixth hole.
