The Open Championship: Bryson DeChambeau fires back at his critics with a sizzling start

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Sometimes it’s best to let your clubs do the talking. After months of questioning his desire and second-guessing his every action, Bryson DeChambeau answered his many critics the most effective way possible: by torching Royal Birkdale on the first day of The Open Championship. 

Only a late bogey on 18 kept DeChambeau from holding a share of the clubhouse lead. He finished the day at -3, one stroke off the lead, in an effective counterpoint to critics like Nick Faldo, who accused him of having “zero clue” how to play links golf. 

DeChambeau rolled into this season a favorite to add to his career major total of two. Instead, he missed the cut at the first three majors, stumbled through a professional crisis as his home league (LIV Golf) crumbled around him, and generally looked more lost than at any time since his first U.S. Open win in 2020. 

That was red meat to his critics, who happily piled on the part-time YouTube golfer.

“I'd say it to his face — he has zero clue of strategy,” Faldo, a three-time Open champion, said earlier in the week. “He said it last year, I think on TV, he said, 'I'm going to go out an attack the links.' Well, I've never 'attacked' a links.”

Well, if DeChambeau didn’t necessarily “attack” the links, he didn’t sit back and hope they behaved, either. He was aggressive off the tee and deft around the green, opening his round with two birdies and finishing with five total. His touch on a baked Birkdale was, at times, immaculate: 

After his round, DeChambeau continued his recent trend of declining to speak to the media, even though this was by far his most successful Thursday of the year. Others picked up the slack. 

“He flights the ball great. His ball flight today was really good. He didn't really hit many bad shots,” playing partner Tyrrell Hatton said after their round. “He's an amazing player, and it shouldn't really surprise anyone that he's doing well.”

One of DeChambeau’s many problems in the first three majors of the year: slow and inconsistent starts. As Justin Ray noted on X, DeChambeau minimized his bogeys, improved his greens in regulation, and actually gained strokes around the green, as compared to his first three major Thursdays this year: 

DeChambeau is playing alongside Scottie Scheffler, a guy who knows a thing or two about major championship golf. He’ll tee off on Friday at 10:04 a.m. Eastern Time … plenty of time for those who doubted him to offer up an apology.