Scottie Scheffler has defended Bryson DeChambeau over his rules controversy at The Open and has insisted the two-time US Open champion is ‘not a cheater’.
DeChambeau dominated headlines at Royal Birkdale during the final men’s major of the year, where he appeared to be within a shot of the halfway lead before being handed a two-shot penalty after his second round.
The LIV Golf League star was adjudged to have improved the line of his backswing in long grass at the par-four fifth, turning his bogey into a triple-bogey seven, with DeChambeau involved in heated discussions with rules officials late into Friday evening.
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Sir Nick Faldo and Paul McGinley analysed Bryson DeChambeau’s controversial two-stroke penalty from Friday and agreed he has not respected the rules of golf
Speculation that DeChambeau was set to withdraw in protest was quickly quashed by the American, who declined to speak to the media after every tournament round but said on social media that the decision ‘fired him up’ to continue.
Rory McIlroy criticised DeChambeau’s “performative” behaviour, which included a lengthy discussion post-round on the course and a late-night range session, although the R&A accepted that his actions were unintentional.
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Rory McIlroy spoke to the media after his third round of The Open and said he was not impressed with Bryson DeChambeau’s actions
“I’ve known him [DeChambeau] for a long time and he’s a lot of things, but he’s definitely not a cheater,” Scheffler told reporters after his tied-fourth finish. “I’ve never seen him cheat once.
“Whether we were having a putting contest on the putting green or chipping contest, or anytime we played amateur golf, I never saw anything suspicious.
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Bryson DeChambeau was given a two-shot penalty after inadvertently improving his lie in thick rough on the fifth hole
“When you’re watching him there from that camera angle, maybe he was a touch careless around his ball, but I don’t think he did anything intentionally.”
Scheffler held off talking about the incident after this third round but gave his views on the final day, with the world No 1 questioning whether there are different ways to enforce the rules.
“I think maybe we need to be a little bit more strict in the way that we are policing guys,” Scheffler explained. “It’s a little bit of a balance because you’ve got certain guys like Bryson, who every shot he hits is going to be shown on TV.
“When you have camera angles that are far away, things can look different than they do when you’re right there. I feel like at times, sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit further than they should.
“I think we need to get back to the traditions of the game and maybe we do need to police things a little bit more stricter in the game.”
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Sam Burns said that ‘there was not enough evidence’ to penalise Bryson DeChambeau during the second round
Scheffler on near-miss: ‘It wasn’t my week’
Scheffler was aiming to become the first back-to-back winner of The Open since Padraig Harrington and briefly found himself within one of the lead on the final day, only to bogey the last and finish three strokes behind Ryan Fox.
“Today was a great effort,” Scheffler insisted. “I felt like I was doing the right things out there. I gave myself a lot of looks again today. I guess it just wasn’t my week.
“I got a good break there on 17, but off the tee, it probably should have been in the fairway. That stuff hurts. My ball on 13 goes into that hole. It wasn’t my best tee shot, but it was a time where I needed to be aggressive.
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Scottie Scheffler raged after his tee shot found the rough on the par-five 17th hole at Royal Birkdale
“I saw some good stuff happening with guys that hit the ball over there the last few days, and it didn’t happen for me today. Just those little bounces. My ball on 14 I think is in the fairway, I come up there, it’s in the pot bunker. Little stuff like that over the course of the week tends to add up.
“I competed really well this week. I did a good job of staying patient and hit the ball really nice over the course of four days. Maybe yesterday was the only day I didn’t strike it as well as I would have liked to.”
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Highlights of the final round of The Open, where Ryan Fox claimed an impressive maiden major victory
What’s next?
The next PGA Tour event is the 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities in Minnesota, beginning Thursday, with early coverage on Sky Sports+ before switching to Sky Sports Golf at 7pm.
The 3M Open is part of a triple-header of live golf on Sky Sports, with the ISPS Handa Senior Open and ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open also live. The women’s major season then concludes with the AIG Women’s Open from July 30-August 2, also live on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract.
