Jon Rahm reacts to DeChambeaus controversial Open | Golf News

Jon Rahm acknowledged the “consensus” surrounding Bryson DeChambeau’s penalty at The Open Championship was that he did commit a violation, albeit unintentionally.

DeChambeau acquired a two-stroke penalty during the second spherical of the Open Championship after the two-time U.S. Open champion controversially pressed down grass during his backswing, though he maintained he was assessing his shot by positioning himself instantly behind the ball.

Opinion among gamers was divided on the penalty, with some disagreeing while others supported the LIV Golf star, as DeChambeau thought of pulling out of the match at Royal Birkdale following missed cuts at the yr’s first three majors.

He had surged to outright second on the leaderboard with a four-under spherical on Friday but slipped to tied for fifth before the third spherical commenced due to the R&A ruling. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy delivered a scathing interview criticizing his “performative” competitor.

Two-time major champion Rahm said he believed it was a violation, though he required extra video evidence.

“We were the group behind, so I was aware when we got to scoring,” said Rahm. “I can tell you, I’ve heard there’s multiple angles. I’ve only seen the face-on one. So I can’t really give you an idea.

“For people who have seen all the photographs, I believe the consensus is that, although it wasn’t intentional, it was an infraction. That’s what I perceive, but I have never seen. I assume there’s a down the road shot that I have never seen. I could not inform you.

“What I saw face-on to me wasn’t enough for me to draw a conclusion. I wish I could tell you more. If you have the video, I’ll see it, but I haven’t seen it.”

Rahm and DeChambeau rank among LIV Golf’s largest stars, and the Spaniard suspects the two-stroke penalty may inspire the 32-year-old.

“There are some players that do really well when they have some, let’s say some extra going on off the course,” Rahm said.

“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 issues, one of them — I believe it was more than one, but one of them that I discovered, I would not want on anyone, and he was ready to carry out extremely effectively with a lot of added additional, for example, 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.

“He appears to be doing just fantastic. Last I checked, he was at 6-under.” DeChambeau accomplished his third spherical one-under at Royal Birkdale.