The first Open Championship was played in 1860, back when Queen Victoria held the throne and Charles Dickens was driving page views. One hundred and fifty-three editions of the championship have been conducted since that inaugural event; that’s a lot of golf, a lot of champion golfers of the year and a lot of consequential rulings — though few rulings that rivaled the one R&A officials adjudicated in the waning moments of the second round at Royal Birkdale on Friday.
When Bryson DeChambeau, who attracts drama like light does moths, arrived in the scorer’s cabin to sign for what he thought was a second-round, four-under 66 that had propelled him into solo second, at seven under, just one off Lucas Herbert’s lead, officials alerted DeChambeau that there was a problem. Video had surfaced of DeChambeau preparing to play his second shot in the fescue left of the fairway at the par-4 5th, and it didn’t look good.
The footage showed DeChambeau, as he assessed his 72-yard wedge-shot approach, stepping on the wispy, long grass behind his and next to his ball. One of the most basic and essential rules of golf is that you must play the course as you find it. Put another way, under Rule 8.1b, players may not “move, bend or break any growing or attached natural objects.” Put another way, that means no stomping on grass to improve your lie.
Did DeChambeau? The scene at Birdale’s 5th was a bit of a golf-rules Rorschach test. R&A officials contended that, yes, DeChambeau, by way of his high-stepping in the high grass, did improve his situation; DeChambeau, though, vociferously denied any wrongdoing. Much of this theater played out in front of TV cameras as DeChambeau, before signing his scorecard, revisited the site of his alleged violation to plead his case. Joining him were a couple of officials, and the conversation quickly grew heated, with DeChambeau gesticulating with his arms as he defended his actions and, by extension, his reputation. This went on for more than 10 minutes, cameras rolling throughout.
“You have to take care around the ball,” Charlie Maran, an R&A rules official, said on the NBC telecast. “It’s about whether or not his actions were improving his lie.”
Also watching this sequence unfold was NBC analyst Jim Furyk who said on the air: “My guess is what Bryson’s saying is that [the grass] was well behind the ball, that the club is getting picked up very vertically. He had that ball well back in his stance. … You could see [the grass] was not in his swing.”
That potential defense held no water in the R&A’s eyes. When the meeting at the 5th concluded, DeChambeau and the officials motored back to the scoring hut and disappeared for another lengthy deliberation, which, as the minutes ticked by, had all the anticipation of a papal conclave. Social media was buzzing with disbelief and speculation. And then, at long last, came the official ruling, and an explanation by way of the Open’s chief referee, Grant Moir.
“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 began, addressing the detail-hungry media at Birkdale.
Moir said the ruling “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.
“The area of intended swing includes the entire area that might reasonably affect any part of the backswing, the downswing or the complaining of the swing for the intended stroke, and importantly, what the prohibited action here is that the player mustn’t move, bend or break any growing or attached natural object. A player is allowed to fairly take their stance by taking reasonable actions to get to the ball and take a stance, if in some situations that improves the condition affecting the stroke, but when doing so, the player must take the least intrusive course of action to deal with the particular situation and is not entitled to a normal stance or swing.
“I would reiterate this rule applies even when there’s no intention to improve the area, as was the case with Bryson.
“That’s all I have to say.”
DeChambeau, who is now three back and in a tie for 5th, had even less to say, declining to speak with the media, as he has all week and for much of the 2026 season. Following his session in the scoring cabin, DeChambeau went straight to the driving range, stopping along the way to sign a few autographs. DeChambeau’s manager, Brett Falkoff, did offer one stunning bit of color to loitering reporters.
He said DeChambeau is undecided as to whether he will continue playing in this 154th Open. According to Falkoff, DeChambeau will announce his decision Saturday morning.
“He’s a lot of things,” Falkoff said. “He’s not a cheater.”
