DeChambeau: Two-Shot Penalty Cost Me the Claret Jug

There's a particular kind of agony that only links golf can deliver—the slow-burning realization that a tournament slipped away not on the final green, but somewhere back in the dunes, hours or even days before you knew it. Bryson DeChambeau is living with that feeling right now, and he wants everyone to know it.

The Penalty That Changed Everything

DeChambeau arrived at Royal Birkdale last week in fine form, the kind of form that makes you sit up and watch. An opening 67 followed by what he thought was a 66 on Friday—that's the stuff that gets you on the first page of the leaderboard and into contention for golf's oldest prize.

But then came the video review. Officials determined that at the 5th hole, DeChambeau had improved his backswing area by standing on and flattening some long grass. A retrospective two-stroke penalty was applied. His 66 became a 68. His bogey became a triple bogey. And just like that, his name slid from second place to fifth.

I've walked that stretch of Birkdale countless times over the years. The 5th plays through some of the most tangled, windswept rough on the entire course—the kind of grass that grabs at your ankles and swallows golf balls whole. It's beautiful and brutal in equal measure. And apparently, it's also the kind of terrain where the difference between settling your stance and improving your lie can cost you a major championship.

DeChambeau's Frustration Boils Over

Speaking at the LIV Golf UK event at JCB Golf and Country Club near Uttoxeter, DeChambeau didn't hold back on his assessment of what might have been.

"Besides the 5th, being three over on it, and the 11th, that's six shots," he said. "That's tied for the lead right there. Two holes and I'm right there for the Claret Jug."

The math is brutal but not unreasonable. Ryan Fox claimed his first major championship at 10 under par. DeChambeau finished at four under, six shots back. Without the penalty adjustment, those margins tighten considerably.

What struck me most about his comments wasn't the frustration—that's understandable—but the fact that DeChambeau reportedly threatened to withdraw from the tournament entirely after the ruling. He didn't, of course. He played through the weekend, posting a 69 on Saturday and a 72 on Sunday. But the fight, he admitted, wasn't quite what it could have been.

"I wish I'd have given it more on Saturday and Sunday," he reflected. "It felt like I could have."

A Return to Relevance in the Majors

Context matters here. DeChambeau had missed the cut in his previous three major championships before Birkdale. His tied-14th finish, despite the controversy, represented his best performance in a major since finishing runner-up to Scottie Scheffler at the 2025 PGA Championship.

Royal Birkdale has a way of exposing everything—your weaknesses, your temperament, your relationship with the golf gods. The course doesn't care about your YouTube channel or your scientific approach to the game. It cares only about whether you can navigate its ridges and hollows with precision and patience.

DeChambeau showed he still has the game to compete at the highest level. Whether he has the mental fortitude to move past a ruling that feels unjust—that's a different question entirely.

The Broader Question of Video Review

This incident raises uncomfortable questions about the role of retrospective video review in professional golf. When a penalty changes a player's score hours after the fact, it doesn't just affect the leaderboard—it affects how that player approaches the rest of the tournament.

DeChambeau went to bed Friday night thinking he was in second place. He woke up Saturday in fifth. That psychological shift is real, and it's significant.

Key Takeaways

DeChambeau received a two-shot penalty at the 5th hole for flattening grass in his backswing area
The ruling dropped him from second to fifth place after round two
Ryan Fox won the Open at 10 under; DeChambeau finished at four under
This was DeChambeau's best major result since his runner-up finish at the 2025 PGA Championship
The American briefly considered withdrawing from the tournament in protest

Royal Birkdale gave us another unforgettable Open Championship. For Bryson DeChambeau, the memories will linger for all the wrong reasons.