Sports

Bryson DeChambeau Trolled Everyone With Silly Move During Third Round of the British Open

By Andy Nesbitt Sports Illustrated

Bryson DeChambeau was the center of attention all day long during the third round of the British Open on Saturday thanks to his stunning two-shot penalty at the end of the second round that dropped him from second place to fifth and sent the golf world into a tizzy.

DeChambeau was able to bounce back from the controversy by shooting a respectable one-under 69. It could have been even better if not for a bogey on the difficult last hole. He's now four shots back of the leader, Sam Burns, heading into Sunday's final round.

Nesbitt: Winners and Losers From Third Round of British Open

DeChambeau, who was ripped by Rory McIlroy on Saturday, had a little fun with the whole situation during a light moment on the 18th hole on Saturday. His tee shot found the rough up the left, and as he approached his ball, he started making all sorts of goofy motions to play off the fact that he didn't want to do anything that might improve his lie in the rough. That, of course, is what led to his penalty on Friday.

Check this out:

Only Bryson would do that.

He then called in a walking official to tell him that his ball moved a little bit, but it wasn't because of anything he did and he was able to play on without getting another penalty.

Bryson DeChambeau chatted briefly with a rules official on the 18th hole. | Tracy Wilcox/Getty Images
Bryson DeChambeau chatted briefly with a rules official on the 18th hole. | Tracy Wilcox/Getty Images

What Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm had to say about DeChambeau's penalty

McIlroy wasn't the only player to address DeChambeau's controversial two-shot penalty, though he had the harshest words about it.

Scottie Scheffler, who played the first two rounds of the tournament with DeChambeau, took a much more conservative approach:

"I was playing with him yesterday. I don't really have a ton to say on it," Scheffler said. "Actually, I do have a ton to say. I haven't decided exactly what I want to say publicly yet. I do have some thoughts. I just-I don't really feel like now is the time or place for me to comment. We're in the middle of a tournament, and I'm focused on what I need to do. I need to go out tomorrow and shoot a low round. I'm not really going to expand on it too much."

He added this about when he might talk about it:

"I don't know. It's just a tough situation, I think. Like I said, I have a decent amount of thoughts, but probably nothing that I'm concerned with right now.

"Yeah, just feel like it's not a road I want to go down today. I have a tournament to focus on, and I'm going to go hit a few balls and hit a few putts. It's my job to go out there and shoot a low round tomorrow. Anything outside of that is outside my control."

Rahm had this to say:

"There are some players that do really well when they have some, let's say some extra going on off the course. Some of his better performances this year in Singapore and South Africa, he had and I don't know the extent of it-quite a bit going on off of course, quite a bit.

"Some of those things, one of them-I think it was more than one, but one of them that I learned, I wouldn't wish on anybody, and he was able to perform incredibly well with a lot of added extra, let's say, noise and distraction.

"It's a lot easier to do in a regular event rather than an Open Championship when he thought he was going to go to sleep one shot back and finds himself three shots back."

It's been a wild British Open so far and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out on Sunday. One thing is for sure-this is one major championship that we'll never forget.

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This story was originally published July 18, 2026 at 4:16 PM.

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