Bryson DeChambeau has once again found himself at the center of the golf world.
The 2024 US Open Champion has, without question, had a terrible 2026 season when it comes to performances in major tournaments. Three missed cuts at the first three events of the year at The Masters, PGA Championship at Aronimink, and US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
For a player with a ceiling as high as DeChambeau’s, that’s unacceptable. It’s also opened himself up to criticism from analysts and commentators who have taken issue with his YouTube channel and, in their view, inability to adjust to different styles of play.
Nick Faldo, six-time major winner and three-time Champion Golfer of the Year, was very specific in his assessment of DeChambeau’s game, saying he doesn’t focus enough on strategy when playing links courses.
“That’s a whole part of the story, how they’re superstars at LIV then come over and can’t do it. So that’s all another story. Then they go back to be superstars. He has — I’d say it to his face — he has zero clue of strategy,” Faldo told Sky Sports earlier this week. “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. You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway.
“You look at humps and bumps and what have you and think, ‘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.”
Brandel Chamblee added that he believed DeChambeau’s struggles are a result of focusing too much on chasing “Grant Horvat” and other YouTube golf priorities.
“Probably one of the biggest surprises of the year is Bryson DeChambeau,” Chamblee explained 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.”
Well, the 32-year-old clearly heard those remarks, because he gave a not-so-subtle response to them in a post-round interview on Thursday. After putting up a very impressive three-under 67, DeChambeau did not speak to the media, giving just one brief interview to an R&A reporter. First, he addressed his play with some very standard, middle of the road analysis.
“It was a hard-fought battle out there. The wind was switching quite a bit. It was fun seeing a lot of the fans going at us, and they were rooting for all of us. It was fun just seeing the ups and downs of the group, but we all played pretty well. It was a lot of fun,” he said. “There’s just some driving holes out there I’ve got to work on. Other than that, I played really well. Made some good putts. I three-putted once, but that’s life.”
But he switched gears immediately afterward, making sure to highlight how happy he was with his “strategy” in the first round.
“I think you’ve got to be a lot more strategic out on the golf course. I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic and focused super hard on placing it in the right places,” he said in a clear reference to Faldo’s comments. “Besides 18, I placed the ball in some good areas. But I just need to hit more fairways. Other than that, I feel like my strategy was nice today.”
Not exactly hiding it, is he? And who can blame him?
Yes, he’s struggled, badly, at the majors this season, and as a result, his decision-making and performance is going to be scrutinized and criticized. But he remains one of the best players in the world, with a ceiling as high as anyone. And ironically, in a direct repudiation of Faldo’s complaints, the data shows that DeChambeau’s actually been at this best off the tee in recent Open Championships.
In 2025, when he finished T10 at Royal Portrush, he ranked second in strokes gained off the tee in the entire field. In 2024, he gained 1.38 strokes off the tee, missing the cut because his approach play was so poor. Same in 2023, his best category was off the tee. And when he finished T8 in 2022, sure enough, gained strokes off the tee.
So in the last four Open Championships, DeChambeau has gained strokes with his driving against the field in every single event. Doesn’t exactly jump out as someone who needs to overhaul his strategy off the tee. In fact, through the first round at Royal Birkdale, he once again ranked third in strokes gained off the tee.
Where he has struggled at times? Approach play, though that’s always been a weakness of his. And when he’s gained strokes in approach play, he’s excelled at The Open. In 2022, he was +1.15 and finished T8. In 2023, he was -0.57 and finished T60. He was awful, -2.37 shots in 2024, and missed the cut, then +0.65 in 2025 and finished T10.
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Sure enough, in the first round, DeChambeau gained over two shots in approach play, and he had a three under 67 and put himself in position to challenge over the weekend.
Does any of this mean he doesn’t deserve criticism? Of course not, when you play poorly in majors, you’re going to hear about it. But it’s might be a bit overblown because DeChambeau does things differently; he has 3-D printed, single-length irons, for example.
And if you think this very “strategic” response is funny now, just wait to see what he does if he wins the whole tournament.
