SOUTHPORT, England \u2013 A casual observer would have viewed Sunday\u2019s snapshot from the 154th Open Championship with a curious glance.<\/p>\n
As Tommy Fleetwood and Bryson DeChambeau brushed past each other in Royal Birkdale\u2019s scoring area the destiny of their divergent week was etched across their sunburnt faces.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood beamed, his broad smile was interrupted only by the occasional hug or high-five. If blissful contentment ever needed a meme, Tommy from Southport was the picture of peace.<\/p>\n
DeChambeau scowled, his sneer was interrupted only by the occasional harrumph or huff. If self-absorbed discontent needed a meme, Bryson was your man.<\/p>\n
To size up Tommy from Southport and Bryson it would have been an entirely forgivable mistake to assume one player won The Open, while the other lost in the most crushing manner imaginable.<\/p>\n
Neither won the claret jug.<\/p>\n
In fact, neither player had a realistic chance to claim the game\u2019s oldest major title late Sunday at Royal Birkdale thanks to Ryan Fox\u2019s gritty and gutsy performance. And yet a body language expert would reasonably deduce that the Royal Birkdale experience was vastly different for Fleetwood and DeChambeau.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood finished his week with back-to-back birdies, the last sending the wildly partisan crowd packed in around the 18th green into a frenzy, for a closing 68 and a share of fourth place, three shots behind the New Zealand Champion Golfer of the Year.<\/p>\n
DeChambeau made a triple bogey-7 at the 11th hole to post a 72 and a tie for 14th, his best showing at a Grand Slam event this season.<\/p>\n
Fleetwood embraced his family following his emotional walk-off and happily made stops at the various media outlets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking down 18 and the atmosphere out there, that was beyond stuff that I\u2019ve dreamt of.<\/a> That was just stuff that I never imagined. The crowds were amazing, and they made it the most special week ever for me, and I can\u2019t thank them enough,\u201d Fleetwood smiled.<\/p>\n DeChambeau gave his caddie and team a fist bump and made his way to the locker room, declining any media requests for the fourth time in four days and leaving a wake of unanswered questions.<\/p>\n Fleetwood grew up about five minutes down the road from Royal Birkdale and would sneak onto the English gem as a child. Not winning The Open surely registered somewhere deep down in his competitive heart, but returning home to four days of unrestrained admiration hits so much deeper than a scorecard.<\/p>\n DeChambeau arrived at The Open to cap what had been a dismal major season, having missed the cut in his first three Grand Slam starts. But when he opened the week with a 67 there was an unmistakable optimism. Even his decision to decline media interviews on Day 1, which is his indisputable privilege, was lost in a sublime ball-striking display.<\/p>\n But that optimism and genuine appreciation was largely lost in the knee-high hay right of the fifth fairway during Friday\u2019s second round, when DeChambeau kicked and stomped his way to a two-stroke penalty for improving the path of his intended swing.<\/a> The surreal back-and-forth with the R&A only amplified the scene that was beyond surreal, even for Bryson.<\/p>\n DeChambeau is as talented and compelling as he is polarizing and petulant. There is no doubt that he believed the penalty wasn\u2019t warranted but for the R&A it was a \u201cclear-cut decision.\u201d Making his plea so public only intensified the scrutiny.<\/p>\n The R&A was exceedingly clear that they didn\u2019t believe that DeChambeau intended to improve his lie and violate the Rules of Golf, but action, not intent, is all that\u2019s required for an infraction.<\/p>\n On this, DeChambeau had some high-profile allies.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAll I\u2019ll say is Bryson, I\u2019ve known him for a long time, and he\u2019s a lot of things, but he\u2019s definitely not a cheater,\u201d world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen him cheat once, whether we were having a putting contest on the putting green or chipping contest, or anytime we played amateur golf, I never saw anything suspicious. When you\u2019re watching him there from that camera angle, maybe he was a touch careless around his ball, but I don\u2019t think he did anything intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n