Views varied among players as to whether he had breached Rule 8.1 by being heavy-footed around the area of his ball in the long grass to the right of the fifth hole during Friday’s second round.
Several American golfers stood up for the LIV player, prime among them Scheffler, who insisted that DeChambeau is “not a cheater”.
But this was not an issue over whether he deliberately cheated. The issue was whether he had broken a rule and officials deemed that it was a “clear-cut” breach.
DeChambeau’s angry reaction, delaying signing his card and therefore denying the rest of the field knowledge of their Saturday tee times was not a good look.
And there was a report that DeChambeau threatened to get US President Donald Trump involved in his 30-minute conversation with rules officials.
The friends have played golf together and Trump had already been involved in one high-profile sporting controversy in July, when he controversially asked football governing body Fifa to review United States striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension at the World Cup.
Balogun’s ban was suspended, allowing him to play in their last-16 defeat by Belgium.
When I asked R&A chief executive Mark Darbon on Saturday if Trump had been in touch, he replied that he had not.
DeChambeau continues to divide opinion. His legions of fans will feel he was hard done by and it was remarkable to witness the warm reception he received on Saturday after he had been docked those two shots.
He does things his own way and there are times, like last week, when that makes him appear self-absorbed – a trait that does not usually play well in a golf locker room.
Rory McIlroy made it abundantly clear, even if saying that he is “not fond” of the two time US Open champion is probably a considerable understatement.
DeChambeau blanked the media all week despite being in contention and in the spotlight.
Perhaps we will hear from him at LIV’s event at the JCB Club in Staffordshire later this week, when the reporting contingent will be significantly smaller. Or maybe his views will be kept for his self curated YouTube channel.
He is as unique as his uniform length clubs and undoubtedly brings much needed character to the game.
