Expectations have never been lower for Bryson DeChambeau than they are this week at The Open Championship. One of the greatest European players of all time is unsurprised — and unimpressed.
DeChambeau is in danger of missing all four major cuts if he can’t have a representative week at Royal Birkdale. Six-time major champion Nick Faldo offered a blunt assessment of DeChambeau’s game, saying the big golfer has “zero clue” when it comes to on-course strategy.
“He has, I’d say it to his face: He has zero clue of strategy,” Faldo told Sky Sports. “I mean, you don’t, he said it last year I think on TV: ‘I’m going to go out and attack the links.’ Well, I’ve never attacked a links (course).”
Bryson DeChambeau Under Attack From Nick Faldo Ahead of Open
DeChambeau’s miserable performance at the majors this season is well documented. He has yet to survive to the weekend in 2026. The Open Championship has also been a major problem for DeChambeau throughout his career. He’s making his ninth start, and he has failed to make the cut three times already. He has just two top-10 finishes — one of those coming last season — and that includes his 2022 performance at St. Andrews, where his aggressive play isn’t as much of a liability.
Typically, though, DeChambeau’s insistence on trying to overpower the course hasn’t worked on the Open rota where strategy is the name of the game.
“You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway, it’s really important. You look at humps and bumps and what have you. If I send it over and feed it, it nudges back into play. You don’t think ‘I’ll just bomb it down there, can’t see where I’m going, it’s 20 yards wide.’ Oh, yeah, good luck.”
Faldo is an authority on the matter. The Englishman has captured the Claret Jug three times, all of which came in a span of six years between 1987 and 1982. Faldo also added a top-five finish in 1991 at Royal Birkdale.
Bryson DeChambeau Odds Paint (Unpretty) Picture for The Open
DeChambeau’s struggles at majors and The Open specifically are certainly baked into the betting odds this week. GolfOdds.com has the two-time major champion sitting at 60-1 ahead of the first round.
He entered major season with momentum, too, going off at 14-1 for the Masters in April and 20-1 at the PGA Championship in May. The numbers started to slide for the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, where DeChambeau was 40-1 by the time tees went into the ground for Round 1.
DeChambeau is well aware of what’s swirling around him, and despite that, he’s still setting his sights high for the season’s final major.
“I’m not trying to send a message to anybody other than me and myself, and knowing what I know I can do,” DeChambeau told The Mirror. “You know, if I don’t win, I’ll be disappointed. Anything else is a loss, whether it’s second or anything past that, you know?”
Of course, making the stakes binary — anything other than a win is a loss — certainly makes it easier to stomach if DeChambeau misses yet another cut.
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