- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,242,370
- Reaction score
- 59
One of the biggest stories of the 2026 Open Championship came Friday afternoon when Bryson DeChambeau was assessed a two-shot penalty for improving his lie earlier in the second round. The decision was a drawn-out process that saw DeChambeau get into a heated discussion with R&A officials disagreeing on the rules enforcement but ultimately to no avail.
Since then, numerous players have reacted to the penalty, with some players voicing support for the two-time major champion while others, like Rory McIlroy, have offered harsh criticism of his actions Friday evening.
Then there's Scottie Scheffler. The World No. 1 played alongside DeChambeau during the first two rounds at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, and ended up finishing T-4 and three behind winner Ryan Fox on Sunday. He was asked about the situation Saturday and declined to comment, wanting to wait until after the tournament to say something.
After his final round Sunday, he was asked again about DeChambeau and the penalty and talked for nearly two minutes about the decision.
"I hate saying stuff out here because I don't want anything to get taken out of context," Scheffler started. "All I'll say is Bryson, I've known him for a long time, and he's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater. 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.
"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 explained how different things can look from cameras that aren't close to the action and how players like DeChambeau are under the microscope even more due to their popularity. Scheffler then recalled a Jon Rahm penalty from a few years ago at the Memorial where a close-up camera caught his ball barely moving and Rahm was penalized.
"When I was growing up, if this was the line between things that were, like if this was the line, here are the rules and this was the right side of it and this is when you're doing things against the rule, you always tried to stray really far that way," Scheffler said. "I feel like at times, sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit further than they should. I think we need to kind of get back to the traditions of the game and maybe we do need to police things a little bit more stricter in the game."
Players will do anything they can and bend the rules as far as they can to give themselves the best chance at hitting a good shot. In DeChambeau's case, his actions, though unintentional, were viewed as against the rules, and he was penalized for it.
In the eyes of the world No. 1, however, DeChambeau wasn't doing anything that was outside of the spirit of the game.
"So that's why it's hard for me to say anything like this," Scheffler finished. "Bryson is a guy that I've known for a really long time. Like I said, he's not a cheater."
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler on Bryson DeChambeau: 'He's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater'
Continue reading...
Since then, numerous players have reacted to the penalty, with some players voicing support for the two-time major champion while others, like Rory McIlroy, have offered harsh criticism of his actions Friday evening.
Then there's Scottie Scheffler. The World No. 1 played alongside DeChambeau during the first two rounds at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England, and ended up finishing T-4 and three behind winner Ryan Fox on Sunday. He was asked about the situation Saturday and declined to comment, wanting to wait until after the tournament to say something.
After his final round Sunday, he was asked again about DeChambeau and the penalty and talked for nearly two minutes about the decision.
"I hate saying stuff out here because I don't want anything to get taken out of context," Scheffler started. "All I'll say is Bryson, I've known him for a long time, and he's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater. 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.
"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 explained how different things can look from cameras that aren't close to the action and how players like DeChambeau are under the microscope even more due to their popularity. Scheffler then recalled a Jon Rahm penalty from a few years ago at the Memorial where a close-up camera caught his ball barely moving and Rahm was penalized.
"When I was growing up, if this was the line between things that were, like if this was the line, here are the rules and this was the right side of it and this is when you're doing things against the rule, you always tried to stray really far that way," Scheffler said. "I feel like at times, sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit further than they should. I think we need to kind of get back to the traditions of the game and maybe we do need to police things a little bit more stricter in the game."
Players will do anything they can and bend the rules as far as they can to give themselves the best chance at hitting a good shot. In DeChambeau's case, his actions, though unintentional, were viewed as against the rules, and he was penalized for it.
In the eyes of the world No. 1, however, DeChambeau wasn't doing anything that was outside of the spirit of the game.
"So that's why it's hard for me to say anything like this," Scheffler finished. "Bryson is a guy that I've known for a really long time. Like I said, he's not a cheater."
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler on Bryson DeChambeau: 'He's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater'
Continue reading...
