In the end, those two shots made little difference after all. So much for the tantrums, the theatrics and the empty threats. Bryson DeChambeau, the man accused of holding the Open to ransom, was the one left to pay the price.
There was to be no final-day heroic march towards the Claret Jug, not even a finish close enough to eventual winner Ryan Fox for his army of fans to claim he’d been robbed.
Instead, it all died with DeChambeau losing his ball on the 11th and being driven back up the fairway to hit another with chants of ‘McIlroy, McIlroy, Rory McIlroy’ ringing in his ears.
Ever since the Northern Irishman stoked the fire on Saturday evening by accusing DeChambeau of ‘holding the tournament ransom’ after threatening to withdraw over his two-shot penalty for stomping down the long grass behind his ball, you always felt the Royal Birkdale crowd might not let him forget it.
The American had barely put his ball on the tee peg on the first hole when a bloke behind him piped up: ‘Rory’s going to buy you a pint after!’ to chortles and guffaws from the grandstand.
DeChambeau has done a fine job this week of making the 154th Open Championship all about him but a run of eight straight pars from the first felt all too straightforward. And then he stepped on to the 11th, having dropped a shot on the ninth, and it all unravelled.
He pulled his tee shot into the cabbage and could only cloth his second eight yards in front of him. He sent his third so deep into the thick stuff beside the green that he couldn’t find his ball and had to go back to hit another. The Birkdale crowd enjoyed that. DeChambeau took triple bogey and the chances of a third major were gone. A couple of birdies further down the stretch were in vain.
Bryson DeChambeau could not find a way to rally on the final day in his quest for the Claret Jug
The American was left enraged after receiving a two-shot penalty following his second round
A round of 72 saw him finish at four under. Having missed the cut in all three of the other majors this year, a finish of tied for 14th wasn’t too bad. Without the penalty, he’d have tied for sixth.
McIlroy had far from jumped to DeChambeau’s defence after the third round when asked if he thought he knew what he was doing when treading all over the grass around his ball on the fifth, which officials ruled was inadvertently improving his swing path. ‘I’m not in his mind — but it didn’t look good,’ he said.
DeChambeau received more support from world number one Scottie Scheffler yesterday. ‘He’s a lot of things, but he’s definitely not a cheater,’ said Scheffler. ‘I’ve never seen him cheat once, whether we were having a putting contest on the putting green or chipping contest.’
DeChambeau once again refused to do any post-round interviews but walked past a small group as he left and said: ‘Hope you guys have a great night, thank you’ before posing for a few selfies with fans – and a reporter – outside the media centre.
We’ll have to wait for his verdict on this most remarkable of weeks. You expect it might appear on his YouTube channel shortly.
