Scottie Scheffler defends Bryson DeChambeau after penalty incident at The Open: 'He's definitely not a cheater'

Scottie Scheffler wasn't ready to talk about Bryson DeChambeau's incident at the British Open on Saturday.

But on Sunday, after he finished in a tie for fourth at Royal Birkdale, three shots back of winner Ryan Fox, Scheffler jumped in to defend DeChambeau.

"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," DeChambeau said. "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 was penalized after his second round for improving his lie after he landed in the thick grass on the fifth hole at Royal Birkdale. But the penalty only hit after a very dramatic scene out on the course between DeChambeau and rules officials.

DeChambeau even reportedly threatened to withdraw from the tournament, and he went out and hit balls on the range until darkness fell that night.

Eventually, DeChambeau finished out the major championship as scheduled. He ended in T14 at 4-under for the week. He was one off the lead before the penalty was assessed, and would have finished T6 had it not been called.

Controversy about the ruling aside, DeChambeau's actions after Friday's second round didn't land well with everyone — including Rory McIlroy, who thought the call was correct.

"I won't pretend to be up here and defend Bryson," McIlroy said on Saturday. "I'm not particularly fond of him. I think a lot of it's performative. I think a lot of it's for attention.

"To hold the tournament hostage like that, and to have all of us, volunteers, players, everyone waiting on him to depart, I didn't feel like it was a great look."

Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world, wasn't quite as strong about the penalty as McIlroy.

"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.

DeChambeau's finish was by far his best at a major championship this season. He missed the cut at the first three, and didn't even post a round under par at the majors until his opening round at Royal Birkdale.

As for what to do moving forward, Scheffler thinks the sport should "be a little bit more strict" in how they enforce the rules across the board. Players like DeChambeau, he noted, are always on TV and therefore scrutinized more.

"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," he said. "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."