EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSOUTHPORT, England -- Scottie Scheffler said professional golf needs to do a better job of policing rule breakers, but the world No. 1 also defended Bryson DeChambeau after the final round Sunday of the Open Championship, saying the LIV Golf star is "definitely not a cheater."DeChambeau was penalized two strokes after Friday's second round for improving "the area of his intended swing" in tall grass on the fifth hole at Royal Birkdale Golf Club."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," Scheffler 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."TV replays showed DeChambeau approaching his shot in the native area and taking several high steps. It appeared that the tall fescue grass behind his ball lay down as a result.The R&A's executive director of governance, Grant Moir, said in a statement Friday that the rule "applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson's case.""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," said Scheffler, who posted a 3-under 67 in the final round and tied for fourth at 7-under.DeChambeau shot a 69 on Saturday and a 72 on Sunday to finish with an overall score of 4 under, six shots behind winner Ryan Fox.Scheffler also agreed with Russell Henley and Sam Burns, who suggested that some golfers are scrutinized more than others because their shots are shown on TV so often."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."Scheffler mentioned the two-stroke penalty Jon Rahm received on his apparent chip-in for a birdie on the 16th hole in the final round of The Memorial in 2020. As Rahm went to hit out of the rough on the par 3, TV replays showed the ball moving slightly.The penalty reduced Rahm's winning margin from five strokes to three."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?" Scheffler said. "I think sometimes it's just a difficult position in the game of golf."More than anything, Scheffler suggested that golfers need to do a better job of policing themselves -- and following the rules."When I was growing up, 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," Scheffler said. "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."
