Scottie Scheffler, the world's top-ranked golfer, has offered his perspective on the controversial two-shot penalty assessed to Bryson DeChambeau during the second round of The Open Championship, asserting that DeChambeau is "definitely not a cheater." Scheffler, who played alongside DeChambeau during the round in question, addressed the incident a day later.
"I've known him for a long time, and he's a lot of things, but he's definitely not a cheater," Scheffler told reporters. "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."
DeChambeau received a two-stroke penalty after rules officials determined he had improved his lie near a bunker. The golfer animatedly argued his case, but the ruling stood. Scheffler acknowledged that from certain camera angles, DeChambeau might have appeared "careless" in his actions around the ball, but maintained it was not intentional.
"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. He also pointed out the heightened scrutiny DeChambeau faces due to constant media coverage.
"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 added.
This sentiment was echoed by other players, with Russell Henley also noting the impact of camera angles on perceptions of player actions. Scheffler drew parallels to a previous incident involving Jon Rahm at the Memorial Tournament, where a ball moving in the rough led to a penalty, suggesting that such situations are often difficult to judge definitively with the naked eye.
Despite defending DeChambeau's character, Scheffler also emphasized the importance of upholding the traditions of golf and called for more stringent enforcement of rules moving forward. He suggested that players sometimes push the boundaries of the rules and that a return to stricter adherence is necessary.
"When I was growing up, 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," Scheffler said. "You always tried to stray really far that way 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."
Scheffler's comments reflect a nuanced view, defending DeChambeau's intentions while simultaneously advocating for a more disciplined approach to rule application within the sport.