Bryson DeChambeau was ascendant in the world of golf after winning the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. He beat out Rory McIlroy with a remarkable bunker shot on the 72nd hole, making the short putt to win his second U.S. Open Championship.
But it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for DeChambeau, at least in majors, ever since. In 2025, he finished T5 at The Masters, T2 at the PGA Championship, then missed the cut at the U.S. Open at Oakmont before rebounding with a T10 at The Open at Royal Portrush.
Hardly an embarrassment, but missing a cut as defending U.S. Open champion was a significant disappointment. But in 2026 though? Well, embarrassment might be the most apt phrase to describe his performance.
Three major starts at Augusta, Aronimink, and Shinnecock, three missed cuts. Though he was just over the cutline at the U.S. Open, along with quality players like Viktor Hovland, Patrick Reed, and Harris English. For a player of DeChambeau’s caliber, that’s unacceptable, to put it mildly.
It also leaves just one major tournament remaining for him to salvage some pride and put in a performance worthy of his talent. Except some of golf’s most prominent commentators are the exact opposite of confident that he’ll be able to do so.
“I’d say it to his face — DeChambeau has zero clue of strategy,” said golf legend Nick Faldo, who does not believe he’ll succeed at a links-style golf course like Royal Birkdale. “He said last year: ‘I’m going to go out and attack the links’. Well, I’ve never attacked a links [course]. You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway.”
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU MAY TURN FULL-TIME YOUTUBER, PART-TIME PROFESSIONAL GOLFER
That criticism, though? Pales in comparison to what analyst Brandel Chamblee had to say about DeChambeau’s recent performances.
“Probably one of the biggest surprises of the year is Bryson DeChambeau,” Chamblee said this week. “It’s almost like he went from chasing Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy to chasing Grant Horvat. It’s like he wants to outdo every YouTuber in the game of golf instead of outplay everybody in the game of golf.”
Ouch.
Grant Horvat, for those unfamiliar, is one of the most prominent names in YouTube Golf and has made several videos with DeChambeau on both their channels. He’s a very, very good golfer, and also far, far behind players like Scheffler or McIlroy.
So is this criticism fair? Well, yes and no.
DeChambeau opened himself up to this type of critique by going to LIV. Because he plays most of his competitive golf on a different tour that has less exposure and doesn’t feature the same players, the only opportunity most commentators have to measure his level of play relative to Scheffler and McIlroy comes in majors. When you don’t play well in those opportunities, there will be talk that you’ve lost a step.
He also, famously, does things his own way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and most traditional golf purists would prefer that everyone do things the way they’ve always been done. Or at least, always been done in the modern era. DeChambeau, though, has 3D-printed single-length irons, uses shafts from upstart companies and has a unique chipping and putting technique that can be off-putting.
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On the other hand, he established himself as one of the best 3-4 players in the world in 2024, all while making YouTube videos. Three top-10’s, including a T2, in majors in one season is hardly a disappointment. He was making YouTube videos then too.
Has DeChambeau been at his best in 2026? Of course not. Has he had the best links strategy? No, definitely not. Does he spend much of his free time making YouTube golf videos? Also yes. Still, he finished T10 at Royal Portrush, ahead of English players more traditionally associated with links strategy like Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose. He’s also dealt with several injuries this season, which might be impacting his ability to compete at an elite level.
Still, golf is performance based. And DeChambeau can silence all the critics by playing well this weekend. And then going to make a YouTube video with Grant Horvat.
