LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

RORY MCILROY SAID Bryson DeChambeau tried to hold the Open “hostage” and was begging for attention after the American reacted angrily to being given a two-shot penalty.

DeChambeau thought he had climbed to within one shot of the lead with a birdie-birdie finish to his second round on Friday.

But with dark descending on the Southport links, the American was handed a two-stroke penalty for “inadvertently improving” his lie as he addressed his second shot at the fifth hole.

• Follow The Open leaderboard here

DeChambeau appeared to trample down long grass as he addressed his ball for a practice swing.

The two-time US Open champion travelled back to the site of the incident with a rules official after completing his round and Sky Sports reported he had even threatened to withdraw from the tournament.

As a result there was a delay in the publication of Saturday’s tee times for the rest of the field.

“I won’t pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I’m not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it’s performative. I think a lot of it’s for attention,” said McIlroy.

“To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn’t feel like it was a great look.”

Tournament organisers the R&A stressed they did not believe DeChambeau had deliberately cheated but said “even when the action is accidental”, a penalty is applied.

“I was watching it live. I was up in the players lounge watching it with a few other players and as soon as he made the step into the ball, we all sort of looked at each other, and we were like, ‘that didn’t seem right’,” added McIlroy.

“I think there’s no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing. Again, it’s like, 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 for sure.”

• The Open: Sam Burns leads ahead of final round, Shane Lowry six back

McIlroy’s hopes of adding to his six majors look forlorn after a third round 69 left him at two-under for the tournament. Shane Lowry is four-under, six shots off the lead held by Sam Burns.

The American will take a two-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. He was one of three players to match the record low score at a major of 62 at Royal Birkdale over the past two days and backed up his historic second round with a 65 to move to 10 under par.

Ryan Fox joined the 62 club with the best round of the day to get to eight-under, alongside South Korea’s Kim Si-woo.

– © AFP 2026

Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.