KI. The presubmit runs **after** patch is applied and it uses latest version of OWNERS. Hence, https://codereview.chromium.org/2799303003/diff/40001/third_party/checkstyle/OWNERS which added owners was effectively used to verify owners :(  

Thanks for the explanation! However, https://codereview.chromium.org/2820583002/ could not get checked in until I TBR-ed third_party's owner. It is a reland of https://codereview.chromium.org/2799303003. Did something change during this period?

No, nothing changed afaiu in this time. So, possible I didn't diagnose the problem properly. But I am pretty sure that current way of OWNERS handling is crappy :( 

This issue has been Available for over a year. If it's no longer important or seems unlikely to be fixed, please consider closing it out. If it is important, please re-triage the issue.

Sorry for the inconvenience if the bug really should have been left as Available.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

reviews & owners & TBRs is being worked on over in 688115 these days.