Bryson DeChambeau’s first round at the US Open did not quite go to plan early on.
The defending champion found himself involved in a bizarre rules controversy early on as play got underway on an unforgiving Oakmont track.
@TonyJohnstone56DeChambeau made the move to pick up and place his ball[/caption] @TonyJohnstone56DeChambeau recovered to make par[/caption]The strange scenario unfolded at the mammoth 621-yard, par-five fourth hole, where DeChambeau blocked his drive into a bunker and was forced to lay up with his second.
Having advanced his ball around 100 yards back onto the fairway, it came to rest on a spectator walkway that crosses the fairway, so DeChambeau was entitled to free relief.
However, it appears that his caddie, Gregory Bodine, picked up his player’s ball before the defending champion had the chance to mark its position.
DeChambeau had a lengthy discussion with a USGA rules official before an agreement was struck on where he could take his free drop.
But instead of dropping his ball from knee height as per the Rules of Golf, he placed it on the deck and headed back to his bag for a nine-iron, and the rules official was quick to advise him of his error.
The commentary team were taken aback by what they witnessed, pulling no punches in their criticism of last year’s US Open champion.
“However you look at it, that was a fairly stupid mistake for a very intelligent man,” said Nick Dougherty, commentating for Sky Sports in the UK.
Alongside him, two-time European Tour champion Andrew Coltart added: “I’m just astounded that he placed it, it’s just not a natural thing to do.
“Very bizarre scenes there for Bryson DeChambeau, but he does that to us, doesn’t he? He likes to keep us guessing!”
Former PGA champion Rich Beem, the on-course commentator for Sky Sports at Oakmont this week, was following the group of DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and US Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester.
DeChambeau made a ‘stupid’ mistake on the fourth holeGetty DeChambeau is the defending champion at this week’s US OpenGetty Bryson DeChambeau was involved in a bizarre sequence of events at OakmontGETTYLike his colleagues in the commentary booth, Beem was shocked at DeChambeau’s loss of concentration.
“Just going through that whole sequence again, he had his caddie pick up his golf ball without actually marking the position it was at,” said Beem.
“But if you’re going to take relief why would he take it so close to where it was? Why not take it an extra five yards back?”
USGA officials have yet to declare if DeChambeau would be liable to be hit with any penalty, while some observers on social media questioned where he took his drop.
It was suggested that he did not take full relief and had one foot on the spectator walkway when he played his third shot, an infraction which would incur a penalty.
Rory McIlroy was harshly dealt with in a similar incident in Abu Dhabi in 2014, when he was penalised two shots for not taking full relief from a spectator path.
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DeChambeau, meanwhile, shrugged off the incident and signed for an eventful par five before going on to card a level-par 35 over the front nine of his first round.
A bogey six on the 618-yard par five 12th saw him fall back to one-over-par as the course began to bear it’s teeth after a gentle morning.
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