The golfing world has been left divided over Bryson DeChambeau’s controversial two-stroke penalty. Scottie Scheffler broke his silence on the issue and gave his clear verdict.

Scheffler and DeChambeau go a long way back. The World No. 1 was sure that the LIV man had no suspicious intentions in his actions that led to the penalty.

"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,” said Scheffler after his final round.

DeChambeau did all he could to plead his innocence to the R&A officials after the end of the second round. It was to no avail, and he was assessed the two-stroke penalty under Rule 8.1.

The R&A's executive director of governance, Grant Moir, pointed out that the rule "applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case." 

Scheffler revealed that there has to be a balance in how the governing bodies handle situations like this.

"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,” said Scheffler, as shown on Cameron Jourdan's X post.

Scheffler did not doubt that DeChambeau’s actions were unintentional. However, he believed that there was carelessness on the two-time major winner’s part.

Unlike Scheffler, World No. 2 Rory McIlroy had some harsh words for DeChambeau.

Rory McIlroy’s harsh criticism of Bryson DeChambeau

McIlroy and DeChambeau have often gone back and forth with criticism. The Irishman did not miss the opportunity to express his opinion on the LIV man and the penalty.

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

DeChambeau had initially expressed a willingness to opt out of the major, which caused a delay in the publication of the Moving Day tee times, and the Irishman wasn’t having any of it. As for the penalty, he thought it was the right decision.

"I think there's no doubt that he improved the line of his backswing," McIlroy said. "Again, it's like, whether it was careless or whether it was intentional, I don't think it matters. Hopefully it was careless, but I think the two-shot penalty was justified for sure." 

DeChambeau’s intentionality remains in question, but the two-stroke penalty was a major setback for the 32-year-old.

What are your thoughts on Scheffler’s comment on DeChambeau? Share them in the comments.

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Written by

Avishek Sarkar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason