After ending his second round with a pair of birdies to finish a single stroke behind leader Lucas Herbert, DeChambeau was taken in a golf cart to the deep grass right of the 321-yard fifth hole as officials tried to determine if all his stomping around in the grass earlier in the day had affected the path of his swing, which would be a two-shot penalty.
He hit into knee-high grass to the right and was stomping around as he tried to figure out how to navigate a shot 72 yards from the hole. At issue was whether he violated Rule 8 that governs the intended swing.
DeChambeau was seen waving his arms and pointing in clear frustration. Officials eventually deemed a section of grass behind the ball was tamped down that might have affected his backswing on the shot.
DeChambeau made bogey on the hole, which became a triple bogey. His score went from a 66 to a 68. Instead of one shot behind, he was three shots behind and tied for fifth. Even more drama followed when DeChambeau — who has stopped talking to the media — stormed off to the range.
His agent, Brett Falkoff, was asked if the two-time U.S. Open champion would play on Saturday and replied, “We’ll see,” he said. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The Associated Press contributed to the report.