Bryson DeChambeau has been accused of ‘pathetic behavior’ after new footage emerged of the two-time major winner speaking to a volunteer at The Open Championship

Footage of Bryson DeChambeau having a brisk exchange with a spotter at The Open has emerged(Image: Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Bryson DeChambeau has faced intense criticism following his interaction with a volunteer during The Open Championship.

After an impressive recovery at Royal Portrush, where he overcame a first round of 78 to secure a top-10 finish, the LIV Golf player’s conduct has come under scrutiny after footage of a terse exchange with a ball spotter emerged via Golf on CBS. The incident occurred after DeChambeau found thick rough off the tee.

Captured on a spectator’s phone, the footage shows DeChambeau locating his ball in the rough and then telling the spotter: “You can move out of the way, thank you.” As the spotter walks away, a smiling DeChambeau then appears to say: “Stood right in front of me.”

The exchange did not go down well with some golf fans, with some accusing the 31-year-old of “pathetic behavior”. One said: “If you were the spotter and he said that to you, you’d be a Bryson hater for life.”

Another added: “The volunteer was standing there because from that vantage point he could see the ball, and he was waiting for Bryson to acknowledge seeing it.

“In fact, Bryson’s first words were, ‘Where is it?’ So clearly he needed the spotter to show him. Once that was done, Bryson gave the spotter ZERO time to move out of the way before he copped an attitude.”

Bryson getting some heat for how he treated this ball spotter at The Open.

“You can move out of the way” maybe 1 second after the guy points at the ball.

This will add fuel to the guys who think Bryson is a fake.

Watch to the end to see the comments, the people are not… pic.twitter.com/IdlR9opLdb

— Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) July 22, 2025

A third said: “Come on Bryson, this is pathetic behavior, no matter how rich and good at golf you are.” A fourth argued: “Bryson literally was there for a second. The spotter was probably just making sure he’d definitely seen his ball.”

However, others defended DeChambeau, saying he wasn’t rude to the spotter. One said: “I’m not Bryson’s biggest fan, but he said thank you and ok. Maybe could have waited a moment more before asking the spotter to move, but I don’t think it’s a big deal at all. Move on.”

A second agreed, saying: “Nothing wrong with this. Bryson got to his ball and there’s a spotter who’s just standing 5ft away. He did his job, move on.” Another fan joked: “Bryson treating that spotter like a traffic cone is the real highlight of The Open.”

After his opening-day 78, DeChambeau was in danger of missing the cut but made the weekend with an excellent round of 65 on Friday. He followed up with rounds of 68 and 64, with the latter featuring seven birdies.

The spotter walks away after being asked to move by DeChambeau(Image: CBS)

DeChambeau finished on nine under, eight shots behind dominant victor Scottie Scheffler, who clinched to fourth major title to close in on golf’s grand slam. Despite his strong finish at Portrush, DeChambeau admitted he has room to improve on Links courses and coping with their unique conditions.

He said: “Look, it was fair conditions the past few days. I always told you guys I like it when it’s fair conditions. I can play well.

“I still have to crack the code when it’s raining and windy but I feel like we’re getting close to some opportunities and solutions for that. It just takes a long time to develop stuff. I’m starting to learn. It was a fun three days. I was really proud of the way I turned it around.”