Sam Burns, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele have all come out in support of Bryson DeChambeau over the rules infringement.
Burns has since grabbed the lead with a round to play at Royal Birkdale.
“In my personal opinion, I honestly feel bad for Bryson in the situation that he was in,” said Burns.
READ: McIlroy tears into Bryson over penalty
“From my perspective, I didn’t feel like maybe there was enough evidence for him to deserve a penalty there….”
“I feel bad for him. I think he played an incredible round of golf late yesterday, and it’s unfortunate to have something kind of like that where they come in after your round and tell you you’re being docked two shots.”
“But props to him. He came out and played a really nice round of golf today, and that takes a lot of grit to be able to come out and do that. So I was impressed.”
Others to take DeChambeau’s side were Max Homa and Xander Schauffele.
Max Homa: “I only saw one angle, and in my opinion I didn’t agree with the ruling. I know there’s another angle that—side on, it’s always hard to tell if it improves anything. All I know is I’ve known Bryson for a very long time, and he’s an interesting human at times, but I know he would never cheat the game of golf. I don’t really love how it happened. It’s not that the R&A said that he did it intentionally, but that rule as a professional golfer feels like it’s written inherently to protect against people trying to improve their lie. So I just hope that people don’t have that—that doesn’t create a narrative because I don’t believe that of him.”
Xander Schauffele: “I don’t have social media, so I was wondering why our tee times weren’t coming out at about 10:50 p.m. last night. I’m assuming that had something to do with it. It’s a tough one. Who knows. I have no idea, to be honest. I’m assuming you talk to Bryson — I haven’t spoken to him or heard what he said, but he’s just stepping in how you’d normally step in to hit a golf shot. I think the R&A said something along the lines of whether it’s intentional or not, it’s still a penalty. It’s a tough spot to be, obviously, when you’re in high brush, kind of having to dance around to get to your golf ball is a tricky thing. It’s not something we’re used to doing that often. You imagine you give him the benefit of the doubt; he said he didn’t do it intentionally, and it’s unfortunate that he got penalized.”
Article Link: Burns, Homa, Schauffele back DeChambeau all the way