Nick Faldo: Bryson DeChambeau was rightly penalised at the Open

The American carded a second-round 66 on Friday, but was later punished for a rules violation

Bryson DeChambeau on the 18th green after he completed his second round during the second day of the British Open Golf championships at Royal Birkdale golf club. Pic: AP Photo/Jon Super

Nick Faldo believes Bryson DeChambeau can have no complaints after being hit with a two-shot penalty at the Open.

The American carded a second-round 66 to move within a stroke of the lead at Royal Birkdale on Friday, but was later punished for a rules violation.

DeChambeau was judged to have inadvertently improved the line of his swing by trampling on long grass close to his ball after hitting into the rough on the fifth hole.

The penalty dropped him back to five under for the tournament, three behind halfway leader Lucas Herbert.

Faldo told Sky Sports: “You cannot remove anything in your intended swing path.

“It was totally inadvertent but it has nothing to do with that, it has nothing to do with Bryson, but he is a golfer that has put his foot down and moved the grass. It is in the rule book.

“The R&A (tournament organisers) handled it beautifully. Bottom line – job done. ‘Sorry mate, you’ve got a two-shot penalty’.” DeChambeau was informed of the sanction after completing his round, leading to extraordinary scenes as he travelled back to the scene of the infringement with rules officials.

He was seen remonstrating with officials as he recreated the incident.

“He lost the plot for a couple of minutes,” Faldo said. “The video is pretty factual.” 

Former European Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley also felt DeChambeau had clearly transgressed.

He said: “He was blase with the rules. The rules are very clear. The line of swing is really important, particularly in this long grass.

“When you do that you are inviting comment, inviting rules officials to get involved and, rightly so, they did.

“It was disappointing it played out in such a public forum. In most places it would have been done behind closed doors.

“In trying to be as fair as they could they went back to the fifth, but his belligerence was another issue. The acceptance of it is where Bryson got it wrong.” 

The drama continued after dark as DeChambeau returned to the practice area and went out onto the range, where he hit balls until around 10.30pm in front of numerous reporters and photographers.

“He wants to be the centre of attention,” said Faldo, who sparked a spat involving DeChambeau earlier in the week when he said the American had “zero clue of strategy”.

“But no player is bigger than the game. Jack (Nicklaus), Arnold (Palmer) have left the arena and golf has gone on. Tiger (Woods) has gone quiet, golf has gone on.

“Once you’re done, golf goes on. If he disappeared tomorrow, we’ll say that was tough but we will go on.” The issue delayed the publication of tee times for Saturday’s play, with the likes of Justin Thomas and Marco Penge taking to social media to complain.

McGinley said: “The draw not coming out until 11 o’clock, that was so unfair and unseemly.”