Bryson DeChambeau was given a controversial two-stroke penalty at The Open last week, and President Donald Trump said it was a “tough call.”
DeChambeau reportedly wanted to reach out to Trump for assistance after the LIV Golf star was engaged in a heated exchange with rules officials at The Open. The president didn’t intervene but sympathized with DeChambeau when asked about it this week.
“I thought the Bryson call was a tough call,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
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“I saw him walking around. I see a lot of people there walking around looking for their ball in weeds. Okay. But I’ve been watching that, so, you know, I thought it was a tough call against him.”
On the fifth hole during DeChambeau’s second round at The Open, he appeared to be walking through the weeds, stomping on the rough behind him and causing it to lie flat for his swing out of the rough. Following the round, he went back out to the high fescue and pleaded his case to rules officials, but to no avail.
After getting involved with FIFA suspending Folarin Balogun’s red card for the USMNT’s Round of 16 matchup against Belgium, and now with DeChambeau reaching out, Trump was asked if there was precedent for someone in his position to become a fixer for athletes.
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“Well, it’s not a fixer. You mean being a judge,” Trump said.
Trump compared DeChambeau’s situation with Balgoun’s and said the red card being suspended by FIFA worked out “brilliantly.”
“I thought the red card was a very tough call, and it worked out brilliantly. Look, supposing that they didn’t let him play and we lost, everyone would have been angry, right? The way it was that they lost with their best player. Now everyone’s happy, including Belgium. Of course, they lost the next game, so they might not that happy, either.
“But it worked out great. (Gianni Infantino) did a good job in making that call. All I did, I asked for a review. I thought that call was not a good call.”
While Balogun was able to play, the USMNT lost 4-1 to Belgium, ending their World Cup run in the Round of 16.
As for DeChambeau, he remained in the hunt despite the two-stroke penalty until he triple-bogeyed the 11th hole in the final round on Sunday, effectively taking him out of contention.
DeChambeau finished 4 under for The Open, tied for 14th. The Open was the lone major championship at which DeChambeau made the cut this season.
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