Bryson DeChambeau balloons to 76 at Open. Then blames his equipment

After bogeys on three of his first four holes, after a double bogey on his sixth hole, after a front-nine 42, and after a 76 during his Open Championship first round that will force him to grind in the second round, Bryson DeChambeau knew at least one of the culprits. 

“That’s golf, my man,” he said. 

“It’s frustrating, but look, at the end of the day, it’s golf, and I get to go relax and enjoy watching others play in this rain. I’m going to go figure it out.”

Though maybe the U.S. Open winner already has. Or at least where to look. 

Inside his bag.  

In recent months, DeChambeau has offered effusive praise of his gear, but Thursday, he was searching. 

“Yeah. I’m going to go figure it out,” DeChambeau said. “It’s something equipment-related. The golf ball is — look, I’m not at 190 ball speed, so particularly when I’m hitting driver or 3-wood, those clubs are built for around that speed, that 190 ball speed, and my 3-wood around 180, so colder, firmer conditions, the golf ball is not compressing as much. So it’s probably something along those lines.

“But felt like I was swinging it somewhat OK, just the ball wasn’t coming off in that window that I normally see, so it was a weird day.”

Notably, it’s not the first time DeChambeau has had a word about his gear at an Open. In 2021, he’d been critical of his driver after a first-round 71 that saw him hit four of 14 fairways. 

“That’s what I said yesterday or a couple days ago: If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks,” DeChambeau said then. “It’s not a good face for me, and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the mis-hits. I’m living on the razor’s edge like I’ve told people for a long time. When I did get it outside of the fairway, like in the first cut and whatnot, I catch jumpers out of there and I couldn’t control my wedges.

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“It’s quite finicky for me because it’s a golf course that’s pretty short, and so when I hit driver and it doesn’t go in the fairway, it’s first cut or whatever, or it’s in the hay, it’s tough for me to get it out onto the green and control that. Like once in the middle of the fairway like I had it on 18, I was able to hit a nice shot to 11 feet and almost made birdie. It’s kind of living on the razor’s edge.”

Later that night, DeChambeau posted an apology to his Instagram account, calling his remarks “very unprofessional.” He added, “I sucked today, not my equipment.” 

On Thursday, DeChambeau felt there were other issues, too. 

What happened during the front-nine 42? He talked about the wind, which he said was playing off the right — and he was playing right-to-left draws. “I should have just cut the ball,” DeChambeau said. 

Was there concern over a lack of links play? There was. “Yeah, it’s a completely different test,” DeChambeau said. “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. 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.”

Still, he was optimistic for Friday. He said he’d watch the afternoon coverage. He said he was excited. 

At the end of his session, he also revealed that Tiger Woods had congratulated him this week for his U.S. Open win last month. Notably, DeChambeau had told Goflweek’s Adam Schupak last year that Woods had stopped talking to him after his move to LIV Golf. 

“It is the first communication,” DeChambeau said Thursday, “but I’ll say he’s competitor and I have a lot of respect for him. I’m sure that winning two U.S. Opens definitely helped, I guess, for him coming up and saying congrats. I don’t know what his position is, but it was very thoughtful, and I was appreciative of it.”