Schauffele: R&A 'pissed me off' by making failed driver test public

Xander Schauffele's round at The Open may have finished on the 18th hole Saturday, but he wasn't done taking shots.

The American used his subsequent press availability to voice his displeasure with the R&A after the governing body made it public that his driver failed a conforming test earlier in the week.

"The R&A, they pissed me off because they attempted to ruin my image by not keeping this matter private," Schauffele told reporters, including Dylan Dethier of Golf.com.

He added, "I've been called a cheater by my fellow opponents. It's all joking, but when someone yells 'cheater' in front of 200 people, to me it's not going to go down very well."

Schauffele's driver was deemed to be outside the legal limits Tuesday night before the tournament, a finding revealed in the testing of 30 random drivers by the R&A. The 25-year-old immediately questioned why only 30 players were being tested in the field of 156.

According to Schauffele, the PGA Tour takes a different approach to equipment testing, contacting the manufacturer and not the player if a club fails. He also alleged that his driver wasn't the only one to fail the test, but the result was the only one that became public.

"Other drivers failed," Schauffele claimed. "I'll just say it, I'm pretty sure a PXG driver failed and a TaylorMade driver failed and the Callaway driver failed. This matter should be private, but the R&A didn't do their job in keeping it private. So I don't feel like I should."

Schauffele enters Sunday's final round at Royal Portrush in 18th spot.