Max Homa has suggested that he is not a fan of the decision to penalise Bryson DeChambeau two shots after an incident during the second round of The Open Championship on Friday.
DeChambeau had looked set to go into the weekend in the final group after reaching seven under par through 36 holes at Royal Birkdale.
Was Bryson DeChambeau's penalty unfair?
He was penalised two shots following an incident on the fifth hole…
However, he was handed a two-shot penalty after R&A officials deemed that the LIV Golf star had improved his lie while in the thick rough on the fifth hole.
Although there was no suggestion that DeChambeau did anything on purpose, it was felt that the 32-year-old had made his task easier by stepping on some of the long grass around his ball.
Max Homa defends Bryson DeChambeau over controversial Open Championship penalty
Some have backed the ruling. Sir Nick Faldo said the officials were absolutely right to penalise DeChambeau.
But Max Homa is one player who has defended DeChambeau. Speaking after his third round, Homa admitted that he was not at all comfortable with the conclusion the R&A came to.
“I’m not really, I guess, wanting to be able to decide on fair, because they’re the rules officials. I only saw one angle, and in my opinion I didn’t agree with the ruling. I know there’s another angle that, side on, it’s always hard to tell if it improves anything,” he said.
“All I know is I’ve known Bryson for a very long time, and he’s an interesting human at times, but I know he would never cheat the game of golf. I don’t really love how it happened. It’s not that the R&A said that he did it intentionally, but that rule as a professional golfer feels like it’s written inherently to protect against people trying to improve their lie. So I just hope that doesn’t create a narrative because I don’t believe that of him.
“But again, it’s really hard to tell anything. So yeah, that one is not up for me to judge. But it’s a shame how that ruling feels. It’s like you would try to call somebody out in junior golf because you could tell they were stomping around the ball. It didn’t look like that to me. But that’s not up to me. I just don’t think that’s in his character, so it’s a shame I think that’s kind of how it’s being portrayed to some.”
Homa says he can understand Bryson DeChambeau’s reaction
It was extremely difficult to not have sympathy for DeChambeau at the time. While you could definitely make a strong case that he had been clumsy, there was not exactly conclusive proof that he had done anything wrong.
He had to put his feet somewhere, and with the grass growing in so many different directions, it was always going to be extremely difficult to avoid an issue.
Where he would have lost a lot of people was how he reacted to the incident. He was clearly upset, and there were doubts over whether he would even play on Saturday.
That would have been a terrible look for DeChambeau. But Homa suggested that he can understand why he was so angry.
“Yeah, obviously he’s right to be frustrated. He was one back and now he’s three. But yeah, too, like I said before, just the way I’ve heard that ruling, how I interpret that ruling, it feels very much like an intent-based thing, and if you’re telling a player that they did it, it sounds like, just from a player’s perspective, you’re telling me I intentionally tried to cheat the game. I agree with him for being frustrated, especially I’m assuming that was not his intent,” he said.
“I understood the demonstrative nature and actions because it probably just feels a bit like an indictment. But the rules are complicated. It’s crazy. We’re hoping they made the right one. Again, I can’t sit here and tell you if they did. But I’m sure he’ll use it in the right way and put a chip on his shoulder because I don’t think anybody thinks that he was trying to do that hopefully.”
The problem with Homa’s comments surely revolves around the issue of leaving a rule open to interpretation.
If the officials are convinced that DeChambeau improved his lie, then a penalty is the right decision. It would become very dangerous if they started to consider whether they felt a player had knowingly broken the rules.
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