Scottie Scheffler defends Bryson DeChambeau: ‘He’s not a cheater’

When Scottie Scheffler was asked about Bryson DeChambeau’s controversial penalty the night before the final round of the 2026 Open Championship, World No. 1 agreed that he had “a lot to say.” But he refused to reveal his thoughts, because he was still hunting to win the last medal of the year.

When Scheffler missed another major in the final round at Royal Birkdale, however, the situation had changed.

On Sunday night, with his pursuit of a second straight Open title, and Ryan Fox holding the trophy he held last year, Scheffler was ready to talk.

In thoughtful and balanced comments, Scheffler defended DeChambeau against the cheating claims but also called for “strict” policing and enforcement throughout the game of golf.

Scheffler on Bryson DeChambeau: ‘He’s got a lot of stuff, but he’s not a cheater’

While his previous Sunday offense and failure to defend the title took up most of Scheffler’s post-round press questions Sunday evening (not to mention his birdie violation on the 17th that ended up being an important birdie), the topic of DeChambeau’s penalty came up again in the end.

And this time, Scheffler offered a reasoned opinion that he did not share with reporters on Saturday.

While he hesitated to speak for fear of being “taken out of context,” Scheffler began by indirectly defending DeChambeau. He did so by calling for more “balance” when it comes to police players in pro events, arguing that superstar players like Bryson are too heavy handed with every shot recorded on camera.

“What I can really say is that I think maybe we need to be a little stricter in the way we police, but there’s a little bit of a balance because you have some guys like Bryson that every shot they take is going to be on television. When you have camera angles that are far away, things can look different than they do when you’re there,” Scheffler began.

He then took the DeChambeau argument head on, defending the golfing reputation of the two majors by saying repeatedly that Bryson is “not a cheater.”

“We did a good job – I don’t know, I hate to say things out here because I don’t want anything to be taken out of context. What I’m going to say is Bryson, I’ve known him for a long time, and he’s got a lot of things, but he’s not a cheater,” Scheffler said of DeChambeau. “I never once saw him cheat, whether we had a putting green or a putt, whenever we played beginner golf, I never saw anything suspicious.”

He admitted that DeChambeau might be “a touch careless” when preparing to hit his shot on the 5th hole from deep fescue on Saturday, where he was assessed two penalties after his round to improve conditions for his conversion.

“If you look at him there on that camera, maybe he could have been carelessly touched on his ball, but I don’t think he did anything on purpose,” said Scheffler.

Scheffler calls for tougher rules on Tour: ‘Sometimes you see players push it a little more than they should’

That brings us to the second important part of Scheffler’s theory: that the pros, and perhaps golfers in general, have become a little careless with the rules.

He used his childhood experience in the game as an example, explaining that in his youth, players used a lot of caution to make sure they didn’t break any rules.

“I think sometimes it’s a difficult situation in the game of golf. When I was growing up, if this was the line between the things that were there – like if this was the line, here are the rules and this was the right side of it and that’s when you did things against the law, you always tried to stray that way,” explained Scheffler.

Conversely, these days Scheffler admitted that players sometimes stretch the rules to their advantage.

“I feel like sometimes, sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit more than they should,” he said.

But he also offered a solution to what he sees as a growing golf issue. Scheffler called for a return to the “culture of the game” and stricter policing.

“I think we need to get back to the culture of the game and maybe we need to push things harder in the game,” Scheffler said Sunday night. “But like I said, it’s a hard line to cross. That’s why it’s hard for me to say something like this. Bryson is a guy I might have known for a long time. Like I said, he’s not a cheater.”