It was only a matter of time.
The World Cup’s global reach coupled with a host of bizarre occurrences was always going to see the odd cheeky sporting crossover.
And it didn’t take long as golf’s Open Championship was thrust into the spotlight following Bryson DeChambeau’s controversial two-shot penalty on Friday.
Why was DeChambeau penalised?
The 32-year-old saw his hopes of winning a maiden Claret Jug suffer a huge blow after he was penalised following his second round at Royal Birkdale.
At just one shot off the lead, he was adjudged to have trampled on long grass near his ball on the par-4 fifth in a bid to improve his conditions.
After a lengthy – and heated – exchange with the officials, he was handed his two-shot penalty that saw his score drop from 66 to 68, resulting in him being two shots behind surprise leader Lucas Herbert.
It wasn’t the first time an American sportsman had felt aggrieved by a decision this summer.
United States striker Folarin Balogun was sent off for an innocuous challenge on Bosnia and Herzegovina star Tarik Muharemovic in their World Cup round-of-32 clash.
Balogun, deemed one of the co-host’s most implant players, was subsequently banned as per the regular World Cup rules – only to see it controversially revoked.
It came after US President Donald Trump called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ask for the suspension to be reviewed.
The decision has since caused widespread condemnation with European football’s governing body UEFA expressing their anger at the decision.
With Trump flexing his authoritative muscle to the USA’s advantage, R&A chief executive Mark Darbon was cheekily asked if the President had intervened over DeChambeau’s penalty.
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“No,” Darbon laughed in an interview with the BBC. “I have not received a call from President Trump and we’ll see what happens from here.”
The two-time US Open champion was visibly angered by the decision, causing uncertainty over whether he would return to action on Saturday.
But he took to social media late on Friday confirming that he would continue and that the incident had merely acted as motivation in his quest for glory.
Asked to clarify the details of his discussion with DeChambeau, Darbon remained coy, but did concede that emotions were running high.
He said: “It’s fair to say there was some emotion around that and we’ll keep some aspects of that discussion private.
“I empathise with that. Bryson has played a great round of golf, he’s in contention at a major championship and he wants to win golf’s original major.
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“It was an unfortunate decision but really clear-cut from a rules perspective.
“We were focused on the ruling and making a fair assessment.”
Despite the controversy, DeChambeau remains in contention to land a first Open Championship title.
