Bryson DeChambeau became the story of the 2026 British Open at Royal Birkdale when he was given a two-shot penalty after his second round. It was a stunning turn of events that dropped him from second place to fifth heading into the weekend and it became the hottest of topics in the golf world during the third and fourth rounds.
Many players shared their feelings about it on Saturday, with Rory McIlroy having the strongest words about his rival.
Winners and Losers From 2026 British Open: Bryson DeChambeau’s Controversial Week Ends in Ugly Fashion
Scottie Scheffler declined to talk about it following his third round but after the final round he addressed it head-on during his press conference and had this to say about 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,” said Scheffler, who played alongside DeChambeau in the first two rounds. “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.”
Scottie Scheffler elaborated on the Bryson DeChambeau rule incident from Friday and echoed Harris English’s comments about Bryson always being on TV and camera angles being different to what’s happening:
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) July 19, 2026
“No. I've been really focused on the tournament. I think that opens up a… https://t.co/oFANJyBjCt pic.twitter.com/My6jkMx3XP
Scheffler was asked if players who are always on TV are kept to a higher standard than other players in the field who don’t often appear on the broadcast and might able to get away with small rules infractions because the cameras aren’t on them.
“I think that opens up a greater discussion that—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.”
He closed out with these comments on rules infractions in the past and reiterated that he doesn’t think DeChambeau is a cheater.
“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. We've seen penalties happen with—like you remember Jon Rahm a couple years ago at the Memorial when his ball moved in the rough, and it's like to the naked eye, can you really tell that?
“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. 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.
“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.”
DeChambeau shot a two-over 72 on Sunday and finished tied for 14th at the British Open.
