Bryson DeChambeau is frustrated as he skips speaking to the media after being brutally penalized for improving his lie in the second round at Royal Birkdale. He has not confirmed whether he plans to tee off on Saturday either. As he left the course, the duty to represent him fell on his team, as his agent spoke briefly to the media.

Brett Falkoff has been Bryson DeChambeau’s agent since his early amateur days and is now president of client relations at GSE Worldwide. Falkoff has represented DeChambeau through two U.S. Open wins, a move to LIV Golf, and now the two-stroke penalty at The Open. Speaking to the reporters, he offered a blunt defense for his client.

“He’s a big boy. He’ll see how he feels. But he certainly feels he was unfairly penalized. He’s a lot of things. He is not a cheater,” he said.

🤔 golf trivia

This Should Be an Easy One, Right?

01/10

How Many Shots Was Bryson DeChambeau Penalized in R2 of the Open?

2134

Oops, bogey!

But don’t worry, there’s still the back 9 to prove your high golf IQ

PLAY GOLF TRIVIA

The feeling of injustice traces back to Bryson DeChambeau’s tee shot on the fifth hole, which landed in a deep rough. Stepping through the grass to reach his ball altered the ground enough to count as an improvement under the rules. The R&A didn’t catch that during the play. However, officials caught it after Bryson DeChambeau signed his card and were sent a video by a spectator. That followed a tense 25-minute discussion between the officials and the two-time U.S. Open champion, as he tried to clarify his stance.

The officials decided to add a two-stroke penalty to his leaderboard score, dropping him to 68 under 7 for the round.

After the ruling, DeChambeau walked straight to the driving range, as cameras caught him hitting balls into the dark, well past 10.30 p.m. local time.

The decision has left the golf world divided, with fans disappointed and critics siding with the decision.

Golf analyst Brandel Chamblee turned critical as he passed his verdict on the situation. “It’s really hard to stomach the silliness that we have seen here from Bryson,” he said in a broadcast with the Golf Channel.

That said, whether Bryson DeChambeau will turn up for the weekend remains ambiguous. But the R&A has released an official statement, passing judgment on the situation.

R&A statement amid the unexpected turn of events

While DeChambeau stayed quiet, the R&A’s executive director of governance read out a ruling in a statement. Grant Moir confirmed the two-stroke penalty came from Bryson DeChambeau’s accidental alteration of the ground around his ball on the fifth hole during his second shot.

Speaking to the media, he laid out the rules under which the final decision was finalized:

“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.”

“Basically, I’m going to explain the technicalities of the rule here for you. Ruling 1 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.”

That said, for now, the Tour isn’t waiting on his answer. Saturday’s official tee sheet has scheduled Bryson DeChambeau for 10:30 a.m. local time, pairing him with Sam Burns, who is three shots off Herbert’s lead. Whether he actually shows up to play, it is still his call to make.