Bryson DeChambeau has never been the guy who quietly takes a ruling and walks away. So when officials at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale flagged him for a Rule 8.1a violation during Friday's second round, video showed him appearing to stomp down the long grass around his ball before hitting his shot, of course it turned into a 30-minute sideshow instead of a quick conversation.
According to multiple reports, DeChambeau didn't just argue the call. He reportedly asked officials to get President Donald Trump on the phone to weigh in on the dispute. R&A chief executive Mark Darbon later said no call from Trump ever came through. Officials weren't moved anyway, DeChambeau got hit with the 2-stroke penalty, and his score for the round got bumped from 66 to 68.
Pardon My Take's hosts cracked up over the idea of Bryson trying to phone-a-friend his way out of a penalty.
That's exactly the kind of story that lives forever in golf's meme economy, and it's why Pardon My Take couldn't help but riff on it. A major champion trying to loop in the actual sitting President over a stroke penalty is objectively hilarious, whether or not you think the ruling itself was fair.
And that's the real debate here, not the phone call, the ruling. Was DeChambeau actually cheating, or did he get caught doing something plenty of golfers get away with every week? Scottie Scheffler came to his defense publicly, saying DeChambeau is "a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater," while also calling for the rules themselves to be tightened up so this stuff isn't left to interpretation.
Barstool's golf discussion landed on the two-things-can-be-true take: Bryson probably broke the letter of the rule, but he's not the only one who's pushed that line.
That two-sided take is basically where the golf world has settled. Stomping down grass to clear a swing path is a gray area that officials rarely bother to review this closely, and DeChambeau just happened to be the guy on camera at the wrong moment. The penalty dropped him out of contention that day, and he ended up finishing tied for 14th, 6 shots back of winner Ryan Fox.
DeChambeau's own statement after the round was pretty restrained for a guy who'd allegedly tried to get the President involved: "Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don't agree with it, but it is what it is." Given his history of rules debates, from slow-play complaints to distance-measuring gadgets, this is just the latest chapter in golf's ongoing love-hate relationship with its most polarizing star. Don't expect it to be the last one either.