A two-shot penalty is hard enough to take at a major championship. But what followed Bryson DeChambeau at The Open made the penalty itself almost a footnote.

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee addressed DeChambeau's response. It was directly during Golf Channel's live coverage at Royal Birkdale on Friday night, July 18. "It is really hard to stomach the silliness that we've seen here from Bryson," Chamblee said in a clip posted by GolfChannel.

What triggered the criticism wasn't the penalty itself. It was what came after. DeChambeau refused to speak with the media. His agent, Brett Falkoff, told reporters DeChambeau felt wrongly penalized and that he was considering withdrawing in protest.

"You look at the evidence, you're like, you're right, I did break the rule. This is a clear infraction. What is the penalty? Well, you respect authority here. You may not like it, but you still, in the end, as a competitor, you respect authority and move on," Chamblee added.

It all goes back to his two-stroke penalty after his second round at Royal Birkdale on Friday, July 18. It was after R&A officials ruled he had inadvertently improved the area of his intended backswing on the par-4 fifth hole.

The infraction, confirmed by R&A executive director of governance Grant Moir, dropped his score from a 4-under 66 to 68. It changed his fifth-hole bogey to a triple bogey. He fell from solo second, one shot behind leader Lucas Herbert, into a tie for fifth at 5-under, three shots back.

Earlier in the same broadcast, Chamblee addressed the grey area question directly. "If there's any grey area, they will give the player the benefit of the doubt," he said. "But this was such a clear violation."

Moir confirmed the R&A's position after meeting with reporters. The rule, he stated, "applies even when the action was accidental, as it was in Bryson's case."

And while DeChambeau didn't respond immediately, a range session lasting nearly 50 minutes followed deep into the night at Royal Birkdale, as DeChambeau hit balls while officials remained huddled nearby. He later posted on X, "Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it."

DeChambeau played well in the first two rounds, shooting 67 and 66 before officials gave him the penalty. The ruling took attention away from what had been two strong rounds of golf.

Chamblee's Esteban Toledo story puts Bryson DeChambeau's reaction in context

Chamblee not only criticizes DeChambeau's reaction. He also shared a personal story to explain his point.

Speaking during the same Golf Channel broadcast on Friday night, he recalled a moment from qualifying school involving a then-unknown Esteban Toledo.

"He was right on the bubble, hit it to the right on the 71st hole and did not know he was in," Chamblee said. "It was a water hazard then. Did not know he was in. Grounded his club. When he did, a rules official happened to be close by, told him of the infraction, and he said, is that a two-shot penalty? They said, yes, it is. He said, OK, two-shot penalty is."

"Now that cost Esteban Toledo a year of his life," Chamblee added. "It cost him a tour card. And he accepted it like a gentleman, as you're meant to do in this game."

DeChambeau tees off Saturday three shots behind leader Lucas Herbert, tied for fifth at 5-under.

Whose response do you agree with more, Bryson DeChambeau's or Brandel Chamblee's?

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar