New physique, new clubs, new image – but DeChambeau still baffled by links

The giddy redemption of Pinehurst felt like a distant memory down in the sodden swale beneath a grandstand on the 10th at Royal Troon. Bryson DeChambeau has successfully reinvented his clubs, his physique and his public image over the past year, but the links — particularly as wet and wearisome as here — might always prove the bane of his existence.
The American rarely permits his smile to waver in the presence of a camera, but the showman’s patience had worn thin after a torturous front nine that destroyed his hopes at this Open Championship. DeChambeau spent several minutes urging the innocent bystanders in his line to move backwards. The trouble was that his drive at the 10th had veered so far left that the spectators would have needed to board the 7th green to get out of harm’s way. After a prolonged stalemate, with DeChambeau invoking his best impression of an air traffic marshal, he punched a shot nearly straight over their heads. Thankfully, it was one of the few that maintained its intended course in a wretched five-over-par round of 76 for the US Open champion.
“I’m just proud of the way I persevered today. Shoot, man, I could have thrown in the towel after [the front] nine and could have been like, ‘I’m going home,’ ” DeChambeau said.
A man hellbent on absolute precision and the vagaries of the links were always likely to form a doomed marriage. After a first round of 75 at Carnoustie in 2018, DeChambeau memorably stormed to the range and embarked on the mother of all meltdowns, clasping his face in despair after poor shots and dropping and throwing clubs before trudging after them. His game has matured since then, first in the “Incredible Bulk” era in which he gained 40lbs and bombed and gouged his way to victory at Winged Foot, and then in this second more artistic peak, with DeChambeau’s short game at Pinehurst routinely sublime, mitigating the damage of his wayward drives in the final round — not least with his victory-sealing bunker shot at the 18th.
The Open has remained a quandary throughout, though, barring a top-ten finish in distinctly friendlier conditions at St Andrews in 2022, and the 25mph gusts of wind blowing here in the opposite direction to the players’ practice rounds, along with an ample dousing of rain, were brutish by comparison. DeChambeau’s high-ball flight was already vulnerable to the elements and the thin fairways and harsh fescue grass here are unforgiving to errant driving. After finding a thick patch at the 6th hole, he insisted on attempting to use his seven-iron and succeeded only in moving his ball four yards. The next wild hack with a five-wood finished on the adjacent 13th fairway and a double-bogey left DeChambeau five over through his first six holes.
“It’s a completely different test. I didn’t get any practice in it and I didn’t really play much in the rain. Yeah, it’s a difficult test out here. Something I’m not familiar with,” DeChambeau said. “I never grew up playing it and, not to say that that’s the reason, I finished eighth at St Andrews. I can do it when it’s warm and not windy.”
Another of DeChambeau’s memorable eruptions came at the Open in 2021 at Royal St George’s when he derided his club manufacturer after missing ten fairways in the first round. “This driver sucks,” he said, much to Cobra’s chagrin. The Krank driver DeChambeau has had in his bag since August, which was specifically built to accommodate his Herculean ball-speed, has been pivotal to his resurgence, but the prospect of cold air was apparently not accounted for. “I’m going to go figure it out,” he said. “It’s something equipment related. I’m not at 190mph ball speed, so particularly when I’m hitting a driver or three-wood, those clubs are built for around that speed. [In] colder, firmer conditions the golf ball is not compressing as much.”
In truth, DeChambeau’s problems were a little more varied. Playing alongside Ludvig Aberg and Tom Kim, a three-putt at the first set a sombre tone, despite DeChambeau drawing the majority of the crowd’s support. A poor drive at the third sailed left and DeChambeau three-putted again, albeit this time from just off the green. A missed par putt from three feet at the fourth was the coup de grâce. “That’s golf, my man. It’s frustrating,” DeChambeau said of his early malaise.
The cheers had taken on a sympathetic air by the time DeChambeau reached the Postage Stamp. There was no respite, though, and he reeled away in disgust as his ball sailed over the back of the green. He made the turn at six over in a miserable trance and it’s no surprise the private terminal in Prestwick was proving tempting, but DeChambeau steeled himself valiantly on the back nine to stave off further embarrassment. When he holed a monstrous 55 foot putt for eagle at the 16th to salvage hope of making the cut, his smile even briefly returned.
“I’ve got a chance. If I have some putts go in and hit some shots the way I know how to and figure out this equipment stuff, I’ll be good,” DeChambeau said, although that list in itself was a testament to how the links continues to confound him. The only consolation was that at least on this treacherous first day he was far from alone.