Rory McIlroy rips Bryson DeChambeau after penalty, 'performative' actions at The Open Championship: 'I'm not particularly fond of him'

Rory McIlroy was not having Bryson DeChambeau's antics at The Open Championship.

McIlroy absolutely ripped DeChambeau after his third round at Royal Birkdale on Saturday, and called out the LIV Golf star for taking the British Open "hostage" after what happened with his two-shot penalty on Friday night after Round 2.

"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. I think a lot of it's for attention.

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

After DeChambeau finished his second round and walked off the green just a shot of the lead, officials approached him about a possible rules violation. That led to a long, chaotic scene at Royal Birkdale that spilled out onto the course, where DeChambeau reenacted said violation.

DeChambeau was seen in an animated and heated discussion with rules officials out at the spot of the infraction, later calling them "crooks", according to reports, and even reportedly threatened to withdraw from the tournament after they hit him with a two-shot penalty. 

DeChambeau then went to the range and hit balls as darkness fell over the course, and was reportedly humming, singing and handing out snacks. He didn't speak about the incident with reporters on site, and eventually confirmed late on Friday that he'd remain in the tournament. The penalty brought him three back of the lead at the midway point.

The moment absolutely overshadowed what was a great start for DeChambeau. He entered the week having failed to make a cut or post a round under par at a major championship in 2026. 

While some may view it as controversial, McIlroy had no issue with the penalty. He said he was watching DeChambeau's round live in the players' lounge when it happened, and thought it was "pretty obvious" why he was called in by rules officials. 

"I think there's no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing," McIlroy said. "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."

McIlroy posted a 1-under 69 on Saturday to get to 2-under on the week. He was still six shots off the lead when he hit the clubhouse, thanks in part to a 62 that Ryan Fox posted in the early wave. That marked the third 62 of the tournament. If McIlroy is going to make a run on Sunday, he'll need to have a perfect outing and get some help from the rest of the field. 

What are other players saying?

Naturally, DeChambeau’s situation was something that was brought up quite a bit on Saturday. But few were even close to as opiniated on it as McIlroy was.

Xander Schauffele said he thought DeChambeau was “just stepping in how you’d normally step in to hit a golf shot.

"It's a tough spot to be, obviously, when you're in high brush, kind of having to dance around to get to your golf ball is a tricky thing,” Schauffele said. “It's not something we're used to doing that often. You imagine you give him the benefit of the doubt; he said he didn't do it intentionally, and it's unfortunate that he got penalized because he was playing incredibly well and obviously he's still playing incredibly well, so he's obviously going to have something to prove these next two days."

Max Homa, from what he saw, “didn’t agree” with the penalty.

"All I know is I've known Bryson for a very long time, and he's an interesting human at times, but I know he would never cheat the game of golf,” Homa said. “I don't really love how it happened. It's not that the R&A said that he did it intentionally, but that rule as a professional golfer feels like it's written inherently to protect against people trying to improve their lie. So I just hope that people don't have that — that doesn't create a narrative because I don't believe that of him."

Russell Henley wasn’t sure about the penalty itself, but wanted the rules to be evenly applied to everyone in the field. DeChambeau, a more-popular golfer than most, absolutely earned more screen time than a good portion of the field.

“It's unfortunate, but I think everybody should be held accountable for the same rules,” Henley said. “The issue with that to me is the fact that he's on TV every shot. If I played that hole yesterday, you might not have seen. And [if] I did the same thing, maybe they don't penalize me because maybe they don't see me do it. That's the tough part, he's on TV every single shot.”

Controversy of the ruling aside, McIlroy made it clear he wasn’t a fan of how things played out on Friday night.

But as for whether or not DeChambeau knew what he was doing, McIlroy wouldn’t say.

"Again, I'm not in his mind,” he said. "But it didn't look good."