{"id":809612,"date":"2026-07-19T05:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809612\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T05:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:35:15","slug":"golf-news-2026-rory-mcilroy-takes-swipe-at-bryson-dechambeau-british-open-antics-two-shot-penalty-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/809612\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf news 2026: Rory McIlroy takes swipe at Bryson DeChambeau, British Open antics, two-shot penalty, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rory McIlroy<\/a> has fired a major shot off the course, labelling controversial rival Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> as \u201cperformative\u201d at the British Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Forever the showman, DeChambeau high-fived a line of spectators, accepted a request for a selfie with a kid and then stopped to fist-bump a fan after leaving the driving range for his third round, just a day after copping a two-shot penalty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bryson DeChambeau.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Shouts of \u201cWe love you Bryson\u201d and \u201cGo Bryson\u201d followed him to the first tee, where fans cheered and whooped when he was introduced by the starter.<\/p>\n

If the American was concerned how he\u2019d be received at Royal Birkdale after his heated brush with officials and subsequent penalty<\/a> for inadvertently improving the path of his swing that blew up the year\u2019s final major, he needn\u2019t have worried.<\/p>\n

OK, there was the odd jibe from the deep galleries – \u201cWatch your step, Bryson\u201d was one of them – but DeChambeau enjoyed overwhelmingly positive support in his third-round 69 that left him four shots off the lead on Sunday (AEST).<\/p>\n

In fact, golf\u2019s big entertainer revelled in it.<\/p>\n

On the second hole, he appeared to have a wry smile on his face as he assessed how to get to his ball that was buried in thick grass to the back left of the green. Every movement and practice swing by DeChambeau was met with an \u201cooooooh\u201d by fans, clearly a nod to his heavily scrutinised actions.<\/p>\n

At the par-4 sixth hole, DeChambeau drew more laughter from spectators when he addressed his second shot by stretching out his legs in an exaggerated stance – similar to how he stood for the shot in question on Friday.<\/p>\n

Paul McGinley, an analyst on British broadcaster Sky Sports, predicted that what happened to DeChambeau the previous round would spur him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying with a chip on your shoulder can be a good thing,\u201d McGinley said.<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm<\/a> used the American as an example of players who \u201cdo really well when they have, let\u2019s say, some extra going on off the course\u201d. <\/p>\n

Not everyone enjoyed DeChambeau\u2019s antics, however.<\/p>\n

McIlroy described it as \u201cperformative\u201d in a brutal post-round interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I\u2019m not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it is performative. I think a lot of it\u2019s for attention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hold the tournament hostage like that and to have all of us waiting on him to depart, I didn\u2019t feel like it was a great look.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeChambeau has suggested the swelling popularity of his YouTube channel – where he has fun, comes up with some wacky ideas and shows the world a different side to him – is as important as the results he gets.<\/p>\n

Yet, not much in golf beats lifting the claret jug – and he\u2019s still in contention, even if a bogey on the 18th hole ruined a strong closing stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy has fired a major shot off the course, labelling controversial rival Bryson DeChambeau as \u201cperformative\u201d at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-809612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}