It's enough to get you black-balled by the membership committee, but two of Scotland's finest golfers have hit the rough after one accused the other of "cheating".

Sandy Lyle, a former Open champion and once a rival of Colin Montgomerie to captain the 2010 Ryder Cup team, has made the astonishing claim that his fellow Scot got the job despite being guilty of rule-breaking in a tournament four years ago.

Lyle was harking back to an incident at the Indonesian Open, when Montgomerie appeared to take an incorrect drop in a bunker after a rain delay.

“You have Monty dropping the ball badly in that event and that is what you would call a form of cheating," he said.

Montgomerie was cleared of any wrongdoing in Jakarta by rules officials, but still issued an apology for his “unwitting error” and donated his £24,000 prize money to charity. He was heavily criticised by some professionals, but until now they had stopped short of calling him a cheat.

Lyle, who won the Open in 1985 and the Masters in 1988, was reacting to suggestions that his chances of being named as Europe captain for the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor next year were damaged by his withdrawal from the Open at Birkdale last year. With the course hit by terrible weather, Lyle walked off after only nine holes of the first round.

“What Monty did is far worse than someone pulling out because of sore knuckles,” Lyle, 51, said. “If anything was going to go against Monty, you would think, ‘Yeah, well that’s a case where he is breaking the rules.’ ”

Bernard Gallacher, the former European Ryder Cup captain, says Lyle is "out of order" and has questioned the timing of his compatriot's astonishing outburst.

"Sandy, unfortunately, is bitter at not being given the captaincy and what he has now done is below the belt for me," he said.

"Monty's explanation for what happened in the Indonesian Open was accepted by a forthright committee and, at that point, everyone should have put the matter behind them.

"I am sorry to say it but Sandy is out of order. It is very poor what he has done, especially in the week of the Open Championship, and someone really needs to give Sandy some advice."