Bryson DeChambeau’s second-round 66 at the 2026 Open Championship did not survive Friday intact. Rules officials hit him with a two-shot penalty for improving his lie on the 5th hole, turning the round into a 68 and dropping him to five under, three shots off the lead before Saturday’s third round at Royal Birkdale in England.
That is why the open tee times matter now. Round 3 begins Saturday morning, with USA carrying coverage from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. ET and NBC taking over from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET, while Peacock will stream featured group coverage and simulcast the NBC telecast. For viewers trying to catch the championship from the start, the day opens with Jack McDonald and Russell Henley at 4:10 a.m. ET.
DeChambeau was not just reacting to a score change. Late Friday, his agent said he was threatening to withdraw from the tournament, a jolt that suggested the penalty had landed harder than the numbers alone showed. But he later said on social media that he would play Saturday’s third round, pushing the immediate drama back onto the course instead of ending it at the scorer’s table.
The penalty also tightened the race around him. Lucas Herbert led DeChambeau by one shot after Round 2 before the adjustment, while Cameron Young stood at six under at the halfway point and Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm were all four under. DeChambeau remains in the mix, but the margin for error is gone and the conversation has shifted from what he shot to whether he can answer the ruling with a clean round.
Saturday’s early groups begin before dawn and keep rolling through the morning, with Rickie Fowler and Max Homa at 5:20 a.m. ET, Ryan Fox and Xander Schauffele at 5:30 a.m. ET, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama at 6:45 a.m. ET and Rory McIlroy paired with Jacob Bridgeman at 7:20 a.m. ET. For DeChambeau, the next step is simple enough to say and hard enough to do: show up, tee off and prove the penalty did not knock him out of the tournament’s center of gravity.
