Rory McIlroy has destroyed Bryson DeChambeau following his two-shot penalty at The Open, labelling him “performative” and accusing him of “holding the tournament hostage”.
American DeChambeau, 32, was punished for improving his lie during the second round at Royal Birkdale after he stamped down on tall grass following a wayward tee shot.
He was summoned to the tournament director’s office at 8:40pm on Friday evening (ET) — which caused a delay to all players’ tee times.
After being handed the two-shot penalty, the golf world was widely critical of DeChambeau, with commentator Brandel Chamblee calling him “childish” and “immature”.
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Now six-time major champion McIlroy, 37, has given his take in a brutal scolding of the controversial DeChambeau.
Speaking to reporters after his third round, McIlroy, who was described by amateur golfer Cameron Jourdan as “going scorched earth” on DeChambeau, said: “I think there’s no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing.
“Again, it’s like, whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don’t think it matters. Hopefully it was careless, but I think the two-shot penalty was justified for sure.
“I won’t pretend to be up here and defend Bryson. I’m not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it’s performative. I think a lot of it’s for attention.
“To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn’t feel like it was a great look.”
By contrast, former Open champion Xander Schauffele claimed DeChambeau could have been given “the benefit of the doubt”.
He added: “He said he didn’t do it intentionally and it’s unfortunate that he got penalised because he was playing incredibly well and obviously he’s still playing incredibly well.
“So he’s obviously going to have something to prove these next two days.”
Following the second round chaos, DeChambeau shot one under par on Saturday and will go into Sunday’s finale tied for sixth, four shots adrift of leader Sam Burns.
Australian Lucas Herbert tied the course record with a round of 62 to take the lead on Friday, but dropped to fourth on Saturday with a one over round of 71.
New Zealander Ryan Fox leapfrogged Herbert with his own round of 62 to leave him second, just two shots behind Burns.
Meanwhile, Masters champion McIlroy is not expected to contest for a seventh major as he heads into Sunday eight shots adrift of the lead.
The Northern Irishman won the tournament in 2014 and has finished in the top 10 on 11 occasions.