Kevin Kisner is seeing red.
Following a controversial two-stroke penalty handed to Bryson DeChambeau for allegedly “improving the area of his intended swing” during Friday’s round at the British Open, Kisner, who serves as NBC’s chief golf analyst, did not hold back his criticism of the ruling.
Appearing on the “Fore Play Podcast” days later, Kisner contended that the penalty was meted out unfairly, pointing out that no officials were present during the incident and decisions were based solely on video evidence.
“I really struggle with post-round penalization when it’s driven by camera footage,” Kisner voiced during the podcast. “Consider if somebody else, say Jose Ballester, found his ball there and did exactly the same thing, he wouldn’t be on camera, and thus he wouldn’t face a penalty, correct?”
“We have the capability to show every shot. We can watch these guys. If that’s [cameras] what we’re going to use as police, even though there’s a walking official in every group, I hate it. I hate having to go back on it.
“I hate that we’re looking at awkward camera angles to say he helped his intended swing. It didn’t look good, but I can’t be the one telling you that he should get a penalty.”
The penalty was called when R&A officials determined DeChambeau illegally improved his lie in high grass on the fifth hole.
It moved him from 7-under par and one shot out of the lead to 5-under and tied for fifth.
He’d taken a bogey on the fifth hole before the ruling turned it into a triple-bogey. Golfers were divided over the incident, as some sided with DeChambeau while others, notably Rory McIlroy, called out the American star for holding the tournament “hostage.”
At the end of the weekend, DeChambeau finished tied for 14th.
“An improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke,” Grant Moir, the R&A’s executive director of governance, said in a statement about the incident.
“Now, I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”