Bryson DeChambeau was off to a good start at Royal Birkdale on Friday. He shot four under 66 in Round 2 of the Open Championship. However, the celebration did not last long for him.

In a sharp turn of events, the Rules officials called Bryson DeChambeau back to the course after his round finished, following a video a fan had sent to the R&A. The footage put his entire Friday score under review.

The footage, recorded by the fan via a telecast, showed DeChambeau’s ball buried in heavy grass off the fairway. This scene came at the par-4 fifth, a 331-yard hole redesigned for this year’s Open. His tee shot had missed the fairway and landed in the native area, the thick native grass that runs along Birkdale’s dunes. His ball settled deep in the rough, and he made a bogey on the hole.

As he set up to play his shot, the surrounding vegetation appeared trampled down behind the ball. While Bryson DeChambeau was calculating how to get his ball out of that tough spot, the video evidence captured him moving in a U-shape around the ball, stepping down on the grass while he took a look at the ball. This particular detail has raised questions about whether he had improved his lie.

The investigation prompted officials to pull DeChambeau off the course and walk him back to the fifth hole to review the footage on site. Many videos have captured the scene that followed a 10-minute animated discussion between Bryson DeChambeau and the rules panel. Players and caddies nearby described the exchange as heated. Bryson DeChambeau also pushed back hard on the officials’ read of the tape. It seemed clear Bryson was trying to explain how he did not step on the grass and the ball was not frankly harmed.

As the discussions between the two-time US Open champion and officials got heated, he called the R&A “crooks” as he walked into the scoring tent. Furthermore, with the banter, DeChambeau told the officials he “will not be playing tomorrow.”

Following the discussion and careful examination of the situation, the R&A confirmed that DeChambeau had improved his lie and applied a two-stroke penalty. His bogey on the fifth became a seven on the scorecard that turned his four-under 66 into a two-under 68. It dropped him from seven under to five under for the tournament.

Jon Rahm faces a crucial moment of his own

DeChambeau’s penalty was not the only rules story at Royal Birkdale on Friday. His fellow team-mate Jon Rahm slammed his club onto the ground after a poor tee shot at the 15th hole, a reaction that easily could have drawn a code of conduct penalty under the rules of golf.

The R&A officials gave him a warning instead of the penalty, but he went on to bogey the hole, dropping him back to two under for the day. But he took momentum quickly. He birdied the 16th to get back to three under and added another birdie on the 18th to close out a four-under 67. All in all, he finished the second round at four under for the tournament, just one shot behind DeChambeau’s revised total.