Bryson DeChambeau’s turbulent week at The Open Championship came to a close just as it started — with the golfer refusing to face reporters after his round.
For the third consecutive day, DeChambeau turned down requests to speak with the media following his final round at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. Starting the day four strokes behind Sam Burns, DeChambeau carded a 2-over-par 72, wrapping up the tournament at 4 under par and tied for 14th place — six shots back of champion Ryan Fox of New Zealand.
DeChambeau’s ongoing avoidance of the press was a constant storyline throughout the week, though it was largely overshadowed by a two-stroke penalty handed down after his second round on Friday. The penalty, issued by the R&A, knocked him from one shot off the 36-hole lead to three strokes behind the leaders.
He was never able to claw his way back into contention, posting a 1-under 69 on Saturday before a triple bogey on the 11th hole Sunday effectively ended any remaining hope of a comeback.
The only time DeChambeau spoke to anyone outside of television during the entire week was following his opening-round 67 on Thursday — and even then, he bypassed a traditional press conference in favor of a one-on-one conversation with an R&A representative.
On Friday evening, while DeChambeau drove balls on the Royal Birkdale practice range well after dark, his agent stepped in to speak on his behalf. The controversy centered on the fifth hole, where rules officials ruled that DeChambeau had improved the path of his swing by stomping down tall grass behind his ball — a charge he disputed directly with officials at the time.
“He’s a lot of things. He’s not a cheater,” agent Brett Falkoff told reporters. Falkoff also noted that DeChambeau had seriously considered withdrawing from the tournament in protest. “He’s a big boy. He’ll see how he feels. But he certainly feels he was unfairly penalized.”
Shortly after midnight local time, DeChambeau took to X to share his thoughts: “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 uncertainty surrounding whether DeChambeau would actually withdraw caused the R&A to delay releasing third-round tee times longer than usual, frustrating fellow competitors.
“It was a bit of a joke, really,” said Englishman Marco Penge. “I’m staying at home this week, which is an hour away, and not getting a tee time until 11 p.m. is not great, really, when the tournament probably finished at — we could have at least got a heads up for what time the first tee time was going to be. Obviously there was a lot of commotion, so that delayed things.”
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was equally unimpressed. “Late night for everyone,” he said. “Yeah, 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.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had stayed quiet on the matter during Saturday’s round but opened up after Sunday’s final round, making clear he does not view DeChambeau as someone who cheats.
“I hate saying stuff out here because I don’t want anything to get taken out of context,” Scheffler said. “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. When you’re watching him there from that camera angle, maybe he was a touch careless around his ball, but I don’t think he did anything intentionally.”
The Open was the only major championship in 2026 where DeChambeau made the cut. The LIV Golf star’s two major titles came at the U.S. Open in 2020 and 2024.
