ROYAL BIRKDALE — Who knows what is going on in Bryson DeChambeau’s head?
He won’t tell us, because he is enforcing some sort of media blackout, apparently over a spat with Nick Faldo, and then a two-shot penalty on Friday night that did nothing to improve his mood.
There were more extraordinary scenes in the media compound on Saturday night as DeChambeau stormed from the scorers’ hut to the organisers’ offices – where he is understood to have demanded Friday’s scorecard, a request that was denied – and back again, all while not saying a word to explain why he had been remonstrating with the R&A chief executive.
He then headed to the range, seemingly to work through more anger – although it cannot have been aimed at the Open crowd. The 32-year-old received almost unanimous support from the assembled thousands, who cheered him onto every tee and green.
But there was still a vocal minority who chose to harangue DeChambeau, a clear breach of the new spectator code of conduct. None were removed, but the R&A are understood to be “monitoring the situation”.
