When Scottie Scheffler was asked about Bryson DeChambeau’s controversial penalty on the eve of the 2026 Open Championship final round, the World No. 1 admitted he had “a lot to say.” But he declined to share his thoughts, given that he was in the hunt to win the final major of the year.
Once Scheffler had suffered another major near-miss in the final round at Royal Birkdale, however, circumstances had changed.
On Sunday night, with his pursuit of a second straight Open title over, and with Ryan Fox clutching the trophy that had been in his grasp for the past year, Scheffler was ready to talk.
In thoughtful and balanced comments, Scheffler defended DeChambeau from cheating accusations but also called for “stricter” rules policing and adherence throughout the game of golf.
Scheffler on Bryson DeChambeau: ‘He’s a lot of things, but he’s definitely not a cheater’
While his late Sunday charge and failed title defense took up most of Scheffler’s post-round press conference questions Sunday evening (not to mention his wild rules break on 17 that ended in a crucial birdie), the topic of DeChambeau’s penalty came up again at the very end.
And this time, Scheffler provided the reasoned opinion he held back from sharing with reporters on Saturday.
While hesitant to speak for fear of being “taken out of context,” Scheffler began by defending DeChambeau indirectly. He did so by calling for more “balance” when it comes to policing players in pro events, arguing that star players like Bryson have it harder with every shot being recorded on camera.
“All I can really say is I think maybe we need to be a little bit more strict in the way that we are policing guys, but it’s a little bit of a balance because you’ve got certain guys like a 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,” Scheffler began.
He then took on the DeChambeau controversy directly, defending the two-time major champion’s golf reputation by repeatedly saying that Bryson “is not a cheater.”
“We’ve done a good job of — I don’t know, I hate saying stuff out here because I don’t want anything to get taken out of context. 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,” Scheffler said of DeChambeau. “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.”
He did allow that DeChambeau may have been “a touch careless” when preparing to hit his shot on the 5th hole from deep fescue on Saturday, for which he was assessed a two-shot penalty after his round for improving the conditions of his swing.
“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 said.
Scheffler calls for stricter rules on Tour: ‘Sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit further than they should’
That brings us to the crucial second part of Scheffler’s opinion: that pros, and maybe golfers in general, have become a little too careless with the rules.
He used his childhood experience in the game as an example, explaining that in his youth, players used an abundance of caution to ensure they didn’t break any rules.
“I think sometimes it’s just a difficult position in the game of golf. 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 explained.
In contrast, these days Scheffler admitted players sometimes stretch the rules to their benefit.
“I feel like at times, sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit further than they should,” he said.
But he also provided a solution to what he sees as a growing issue in golf. Scheffler called for a return “to the traditions of the game” and for policing rules more strictly.
“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,” Scheffler said Sunday night. “But like I said, it’s a tough line to kind of cross. So that’s why it’s hard for me to say anything like this. Bryson is a guy that I’ve known for a really long time. Like I said, he’s not a cheater.”
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