Rory McIlroy re-ignites feud with Bryson DeChambeau and accuses him of holding The Open hostage
· Yahoo Sports
Rory McIlroy spoke to the media after his third round at The Open Championship on Saturday and he was understandably asked about the Bryson DeChambeau fiasco on Friday.
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McIlroy and DeChambeau have never really seen eye-to-eye.
Their feud began years ago but it reached another level at The Masters in 2025 when the American was unhappy that the Northern Irishman didn’t speak to him during the final round.
However, not much has been said between Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau since then, until now that is.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty ImagesDeChambeau was penalized two strokes at The Open on Friday after he was deemed to have cleared his path to the back of the ball in the rough on the fifth hole at Royal Birkdale.
After the ruling, DeChambeau threatened to pull out of The Open and refused to commit to his tee time on Saturday.
That caused a significant delay in players receiving their tee times from the R&A.
McIlroy then spoke to reporters at The Open on Saturday and made his feelings on the matter very clear indeed.
Rory McIlroy re-ignites feud with Bryson DeChambeau at The Open
After his round on Saturday, McIlroy was immediately asked by one journalist at Royal Birkdale to share his views on the DeChambeau incident.
And the Northern Irishman certainly did not hold back with his assessment.
“Late night for everyone. Yeah, look, 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.“ he said.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images“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.
“Look, he’s going to say — like, again, I’m not in his mind. I’m not in his — but it didn’t look good.“
But does this kind of thing happen regularly in professional golf?
“Yeah, it’s hard. Every shot is on camera,“ McIlroy said.
“There’s a lot of guys that play this week and the shots aren’t on camera. So you can say that that’s unfair or whatever, or it might happen more than it does. It’s obviously impossible to police everyone, and that’s why it is, for the most part, a self-policing game.
“I think when there is obvious evidence like there was last night, then obviously that’s a different story.“
What Rory McIlroy instantly thought when he saw Bryson DeChambeau’s actions
McIlroy told reporters that he knew immediately after seeing DeChambeau’s actions on the fifth hole that something wasn’t right.
“I was watching it live,“ McIlroy said.
“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.
“Then when I heard that he was called in by the rules officials, I think we all — it was pretty obvious for why.
“Yeah, 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.“
Bryson DeChambeau’s actions at The Open clearly caused a huge furore and Rory McIlroy’s honest view on the situation will undoubtedly rekindle his feud with the American.