Rory McIlroy breaks ranks to accuse Bryson DeChambeau of taking The Open ‘hostage’ in penalty row

Rory McIlroy has accused Bryson DeChambeau of taking the Open 'hostage' in the fallout of his penalty on day two.

DeChambeau has dominated the headlines after being handed a two-stroke penalty for trampling on long grass near his ball on the fifth hole late on Friday.

The 32-year-old pleaded his innocence, but the R&A deemed that he breached Rule 8.1, which relates to playing the course 'as you find it'.

Grant Moir, the R&A’s executive director of governance, instantly explained the ruling: "Rule 8.1 restricts what a player may do to improve any of the protected conditions affecting the stroke, and this includes the area of the player's intended swing.

"So 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. I'll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case."

In the aftermath of this incident, there were rumours that DeChambeau would pull out of the tournament altogether. However, the two-time major winner confirmed he would continue playing in a social media post in the early hours of Saturday morning.

DeChambeau has since received a rousing reception from the Royal Birkdale crowd upon taking his first shot on day three, but while he has been backed by the fans, several others are less than impressed with his antics.

Rory McIlroy accuses Bryson DeChambeau of holding the Open 'hostage'

Rory McIlroy isn't afraid of calling out his rivals when they're in the wrong, and on this occasion, he's blasted DeChambeau for his actions and even criticised him for holding the tournament "hostage".

READ MORE: Bryson DeChambeau accused of 'losing the plot' by golf icon after Open penalty drama

"I won't pretend to be up here and defend Bryson," McIlroy told reporters. "I'm not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it's performative. I think a lot of it's for attention.

"To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, players, volunteers, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn't feel like it was a great look."

"As soon as he made the step into the ball, we all sort of looked at each other, and we were like, that didn't seem right," said McIlroy.

"Then when I heard that he was called in by the rules officials, I think we all [thought] it was pretty obvious for why.

"Yeah, I think there's no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing.

"Again, it's like, whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don't think it matters. Hopefully it was careless, but I think the two-shot penalty was justified for sure."

Clearly unhappy with how the American reacted to the punishment, the six-time major winner gave him a piece of his mind as he hopes for a miracle on day four.

McIlroy, who has only won the Open on one other occasion, ended day three two-under par and must play near-perfect golf to stand any chance of adding another major to his collection.

Three players have already shot 62 in the last two days, and the Northern Irishman will be looking for similar inspiration on Sunday as a dramatic tournament draws to a close.