Rory McIlroy held nothing back when blasting a “performative” Bryson DeChambeau following the third round at The 154th Open Championship.
While several golfers came to DeChambeau’s defense after his two-stroke penalty in Friday’s second round, McIlroy didn’t join the chorus, instead backing R&A officials and offering a scathing critique of the two-time U.S. Open champion.
The drama was initiated on the par-4 fifth hole Friday when officials ruled DeChambeau “inadvertently [improved] the area of his intended backswing … when he was playing his second shot,” resulting in the penalty and dropping him from second to a tie for fifth.
“I won’t pretend to be up here and defend Bryson,” McIlroy said. “I’m not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it’s performative”.
Earlier, when asked his thoughts on the penalty, the career grand slam winner shared that he was watching with others in the players’ lounge and “as soon as he made the step into the ball, we all sort of looked at each other and were like, ‘That didn’t seem right.’
“When I heard that he was … called in by the rules officials … it was pretty obvious for why,” McIlroy continued. “I think there’s no doubt he improved the line of his backswing. Whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don’t think it matters. Hopefully it was careless.
“But I think the two-shot penalty was justified.”