Whether the penalty was warranted or not, I think we can all agree that Brandel Chamblee is a massive *****.

Man I really don't like him but some of you must absolutely hate him to come to the conclusions you're coming to.

at this point I hope he wins the ****in thing. Just a cherry on a brits **** sundae

Yeah im all in on him now. Hope he goes nuclear on the weekend and leaves no doubt.

How could any player searching for their ball in that grass not improve their lie if they are within a foot or two of the ball?

To say "Bryson cheated and then got caught and acted like a baby" is so silly. There was a camera literally right next to him. He was not trying to cheat. I can feel confident of that much. Like his agent said, he's a lot of things but he's not a cheater. People are trying to take the fact that he is a weirdo and a ******bag and a LIV guy and use that as part of their prosecution against him in this moment.

Also the talk from certain people that they are 100% or 1000% sure he is guilty and that he was stomping around around his ball and stomping like an elephant and all this, I mean come on in. At least put forward a good faith argument. He walked up to his ball, he stepped behind it and in the process he stepped on some tall grass that was multiple feet away from his ball and his stance. Every human alive would have stepped on the grass the same way. I'm not sure how else he was supposed to go through it without stepping on it. From there, can anyone say with certainty that doing that improved the area around his swing? No. If you're saying that you are certain, you're not being objectively honest here. Because you can't be certain. You don't know the angle and the distance. Bryson does because he was there. But you cannot possibly be certain and neither could the rules officials that made this ridiculous penalty. Because if you're not sure, you should not go and penalize someone. I don't know how people are just okay with doling out major penalties for something that they can't definitively prove.

You can't have it both ways and say that golf is a gentleman's game where people are expected to call their own penalties and we're going to trust the judgment of the player but then also come back after a round and give a guy a penalty on a judgment call that you cannot possibly know is accurate or not.

Speaking of that, that's why these pros, who know the rules better than any amateurs certainly, still call the rules official over even for the most basic of things, because they're afraid that if they don't, they'll randomly get penalized for some insignificant crap shouldn't have been a penalty in the first place. Maybe now every player should be sure and calls a rules officials over to help them decide where they're allowed to stand and if they can touch a piece of grass or not. Nonsense.

If you don’t think Bryson deserved the 2-stroke penalty, please explain why he takes this incredibly unnecessary/exaggerated step with his left leg - directly on top of the fescue.

What’s the purpose of this step? It’s not even close to where he takes his stance#TheOpen pic.twitter.com/GF9352PeCD

— Josh Coleman (@Coleman42) July 18, 2026

Was he supposed to jump over it? Fly?

The purpose of the step was to get from point A to B. I'm not sure how else he was supposed to get there besides walking, which does require taking steps on the earth beneath you.

The tweet even stays "it's not even close to where he takes his stance." Ok, so then maybe it shouldn't be a penalty, if that grass isn't even close to where he was standing to hit the ball. That's a point I've made earlier, that the reason he had no hesitation in doing that (and the reason he was so baffled and angry about the penalty) was that the area he stepped on wasn't even affecting his swing or the shot in the first place.

Buddy you're wrong

watty said:

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Was he supposed to jump over it? Fly?

The purpose of the step was to get from point A to B. I'm not sure how else he was supposed to get there besides walking, which does require taking steps on the earth beneath you.

The tweet even stays "it's not even close to where he takes his stance." Ok, so then maybe it shouldn't be a penalty, if that grass isn't even close to where he was standing to hit the ball. That's a point I've made earlier, that the reason he had no hesitation in doing that (and the reason he was so baffled and angry about the penalty) was that the area he stepped on wasn't even affecting his swing or the shot in the first place.

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Well, he could just not step right on it. I think it was avoidable if he wanted it to be. Rules don't say he has a right to approach his ball regardless of what's in his way.

I thought Smylie Kaufman did a good job showing the various angles Bryson had to hit the shot. If he had aimed further left then that clump wasn't in the way. The fact that he aimed more at the hole, and further right, made that clump more of an issue. Kaufman really danced around saying Bryson did it on purpose.

And to get back to the tourney. 18 looks like it could be a very interesting finishing hole tomorrow. Seems like every time they show it, someone has a 5-7 footer for par which they then promptly miss. Can't remember the last hole I saw these guys miss so many short putts on.

Ryan Fox with a 62 and jumps all the up to tie the lead.

He did everything he could to make his swing easier. Got caught and acted like a child.

I want nothing more than Bryson to run away with this and blow away the field simply to spite the PGAT mouthpieces like faxon and chamblee and all the other media babies.

Did you guys know Fleetwood grew up down the road from Birkdale? First I've heard of that

Think I'll root for absolute carnage and hope Bryson loses by 2.

JCA1 said:

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Think I'll root for absolute carnage and hope Bryson loses by 2.

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We know you are.