Scottie Scheffler defends Bryson DeChambeau in British Open controversy: Not a cheater

SOUTHPORT, England — Scottie Scheffler, when asked on Saturday what he thought about the two-shot penalty assessed to Bryson DeChambeau on Friday, was cryptic with his response, saying he had a lot to say, but wasn’t ready to do so.After his round on Sunday, Scheffler expanded on his thoughts and defended DeChambeau.“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,’’ Scheffler said.“When you have camera angles that are far away, things can look different than they do when you’re right there.“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.

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.’’Scheffler said when watching the camera angles that were supposedly showing DeChambeau improving the line for his backswing were inconclusive to him, saying, “Maybe he was a touch careless around his ball, but I don’t think he did anything intentionally.’’“I feel like at times, sometimes you see players maybe push it a little bit further than they should,’’ Scheffler said.“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.

Bryson is a guy that I’ve known for a really long time.Like I said, he’s not a cheater.”...