Rory McIlroy faded from contention at the Open Championship with a zestless third-round of 69 and reserved his firepower for his press conference.
Asked after Saturday’s round for his view on the two-stroke penalty handed to Bryson DeChambeau, McIlroy let loose. He agreed with the R&A’s ruling and then slammed DeChambeau’s “performative” antics for taking the tournament “hostage.” He added, with exquisite understatement, that he isn’t particularly fond of DeChambeau. No kidding.
The American posted a superb second-round 65 on Friday to vault to solo second on the leader board, but was then quickly whisked away in a golf cart by R&A officials. Their destination was the fifth hole, and the spot of rough to where DeChambeau had swiped his drive on the way to a bogey. The American stood accused of improving the line of his swing by trampling down a patch of rough behind his ball.
DeChambeau was filmed in long, animated argument with the rules officials, and appeared to mouth that he would not play on Saturday as he was driven away. DeChambeau spent another 30 minutes in the recorders’ office with officials, before he was officially handed a two-stroke penalty for an inadvertent breach of the rule.
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In a surreal scene, DeChambeau walked to the range pursued by journalists and camera crews, refusing to confirm whether he would play his third round. He continued to hit balls as night closed around him, at one point offering snacks to the agog journalist standing behind.
DeChambeau’s agent, meanwhile, said he didn’t know whether DeChambeau would withdraw from the tournament, and complained of a “subjective” decision in which the player was not given the benefit of the doubt. “Bryson is many things,” he said, “but he is not a cheat.” It was around midnight by the time DeChambeau posted online to confirm he would play.
The saga delayed the release of third-round tee times until around 11pm on Friday, which drew criticism from several players. Marco Penge described the situation as “a joke” on Saturday.
“I was up in the players lounge watching it with a few other players, and as soon as he made the step into the ball, we all sort of looked at each other, and we were like, ‘that didn’t seem right’,” said McIlroy on his view of the incident for which DeChambeau was penalised.
“Then when I heard that he was called in by the rules officials, it was pretty obvious why. I think there’s no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing. 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.
“[It was a] late night for everyone. 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. 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.”
Asked whether he felt DeChambeau knew what he was doing, McIlroy replied: “I’m not in his mind, but it didn’t look good.”
This is another rancorous chapter in the history of McIlroy and DeChambeau. The latter famously denied McIlroy a US Open title at Pinehurst in 2024, while the duo were the final pairing at the 2025 Masters in which McIlroy ended his wait for the career Grand Slam. DeChambeau later complained that McIlroy did not speak to him all day.
DeChambeau ended any lingering doubt as to his Saturday plans when he stepped out of a courtesy car at the players’ entrance, right around the time of McIlroy’s best moment of his Saturday round: a chip-in eagle from the front of the ninth green, after he again delighted the crowds in drawing driver on the tee. McIlroy otherwise huffed and puffed, errant off the tee and struggling on the greens, finding some of Birkdale’s tucked and tricky pins much more difficult to attack than DeChambeau.
