The American Xander Schauffele has accused the R&A of trying to “ruin his image” and being unprofessional after his Callaway driver was ruled illegal after a random test in Portrush this week.

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Schauffele, who shot a third-round 69 to move into 18th place on five under, said he was “pissed off” that his name was the only one to have come out after the Open Championship’s governing body tested 30 drivers to ensure their clubheads stayed within the legal limits. Tiger Woods was among those whose driver was tested, though he confirmed that his was deemed legal.

“To make it fair they should test everybody,” said an angry Schauffele. “Other drivers failed. I’ll just say it, I’m pretty sure a TaylorMade driver failed and the Callaway driver failed. This matter should be private. But R&A didn’t do their job in keeping it private. It was just handled unprofessionally.

“To my best belief, I was playing a conforming driver. The R&A pissed me off because they attempted to ruin my image by not keeping this matter private. This is me coming out and treating them the exact way they treated me.”

Schauffele was also annoyed that one fellow player called him a cheater after the random test, which measures how springy the driver’s clubface is.

“It is an unsettling topic,” he said. “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. I’m cool with him, but that’s not something you joke about.”

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A spokesman for the R&A did not comment directly on Schauffele’s criticisms but added: “We always listen to feedback from players and have done so in this situation. We will continue to treat this as a private and confidential matter.”