The 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale already had some juice. Then Bryson DeChambeau got dinged with a two-stroke penalty for messing with the grass on the 5th hole to improve his lie. And Rory McIlroy? He didn’t just weigh in. He let it fly.
McIlroy, the No. 2 player in the world, told reporters he’s not particularly fond of DeChambeau. He went further than that, actually. He accused DeChambeau of holding the tournament on the 5th green hostage. That’s a serious charge and it didn’t go unnoticed by the biggest name in sports debate.
Skip Bayless throws his support behind Rory
Skip Bayless jumped on X to back up McIlroy’s comments. He wrote that he loved the way Rory blasted Bryson. Bayless called McIlroy golf’s most respected and outspoken voice and said Rory said what so many other players were thinking. That post is still getting traction on the platform.
Here’s the thing about these two. McIlroy has always been the establishment guy, the traditionalist who plays inside the lines. DeChambeau is the opposite. He’s loud, he’s different, he’s a non-conformist who doesn’t mind being the villain. When the LIV Golf split happened, McIlroy stayed loyal to the PGA Tour while DeChambeau took the Saudi money and ran. That merger everyone talked about in 2023? Still hasn’t happened. The divide is real and these two are the faces of it.
They’ve traded blows on the course too. DeChambeau beat McIlroy by one shot at the 2024 U.S. Open. McIlroy returned the favor the next year, pulling off a comeback win over DeChambeau at The Masters. So there’s history here. Real history with real stakes.
Right now at Birkdale, McIlroy sits at T29 on 2 under par. DeChambeau is at T4 on 7 under. McIlroy is chasing his second Open Championship title, his first came in 2014. DeChambeau has never won one. The tournament runs through Sunday July 19 and you can bet both guys will have something to say if they end up near each other on the leaderboard down the stretch.
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