Bryson DeChambeau didn’t do much to improve his popularity at The Open Championship.
He walked off the 18th green on Friday one shot off the leader, and had dispelled any notion that he’d miss all four major cuts in 2026 emphatically. But that was the peak of his weekend.
Advertisement
The R&A ruled that during his second round, DeChambeau had inadvertently improved his lie in the rough on the fifth hole. Instead of accepting that ruling, the two-time US Open winner argued through the evening, even threatening to withdraw from the Championship, and requested a call to US President Donald Trump.
These actions have been slammed by a backroom staff member of USA’s Ryder Cup team for 2027.
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Bryson DeChambeau criticized for ‘disappointing’ actions at The Open
DeChambeau’s argument with the officials went on for hours, and when he threatened to withdraw from The Open, it meant the rest of the players in the field had to wait until past 11 pm to get their third-round tee times.
Advertisement
His actions disrupted the whole tournament, and that led to Justin Ray, who was appointed by Jim Furyk to lead Team USA’s data analytics operation at the Ryder Cup, to call this behavior “disappointing”.
Speaking on Golf Live with Trey Wingo, he said, “As far as the ruling goes, I’ll defer to his peers. And it was a mixed bag. You heard what Rory said, and you know, obviously they have an acrimonious relationship. I’m not sure how to properly describe it, but I’ll refer you to what Scottie Scheffler said.
“He said, you know, Bryson’s a lot of things, but he’s not a cheater. Pretty powerful lines. And those are, Scottie and Rory especially; those are two incredibly significant voices among his peers. So, I defer to that in terms of the rule assessment.
“You’re not there to rule intent. This is one of the rules where one of the beefs I have with the anchored putting rule is that intent is written into the rule, which I think you can’t do. That’s nonsense. You can’t police that.
Advertisement
“It makes it impossible. So, my problem is with the ‘I’m going to take my ball and go home’ and I think that if it looked like he said that, his actions kind of fostered that image. I juxtaposed it with another guy who was a big part of the story, who was a 54-hole leader last year or this week and at the US Open.
“He was leading the US Open last year at Oakmont, and Sam Burns got a tough ruling on some standing water, and you go out there and it was incorrect.
“We saw the replay of that play back again in context, and the way Sam reacted, you could tell he was a little despondent just from his face and his body language. He didn’t say a cross word to that man.
“He may have disagreed strongly with the assessment, and this is the biggest moment of his championship career. By the way, it’s Sunday, it’s not Friday, it’s not day two. And so I think about the juxtaposition of those two things and that’s what was really disappointing to me about the entire situation.”
Advertisement
Bryson DeChambeau has the right to be unhappy with Justin Ray’s comments
Ray’s comments do not cross the line if they were said by somebody operating purely in a media capacity. It’s a fair commentary of DeChambeau’s actions, and an opinion that is shared by many.
But as a member of Team USA’s Ryder Cup team, an organization that has already been accused of lacking the same togetherness that is possessed by their European opponents, these comments do seem a little inflammatory.
Not only did Ray, who is working for the team that DeChambeau is overwhelmingly likely to be a part of next year, express his disappointment in his actions, but he also compared DeChambeau to his Ryder Cup teammate, Sam Burns, when describing how he should have handled the ruling.
Advertisement
Criticizing one of the team’s star players and pitting him against his teammate might not go down too well with DeChambeau, Furyk, and the rest of Team USA.
Read the full article here