Through the year’s first three majors, Bryson DeChambeau had the best results of any golfer in the world.
DeChambeau had finished T6 at the Masters. He finished second at the PGA Championship. And he won the U.S. Open, making a legendary up-and-down from the front bunker at Pinehurst No. 2’s 18th hole to edge Rory McIlroy by a stroke.
DeChambeau had the opportunity to put together a historically good major championship season. But then he showed up at Royal Troon, shot six-over 42 on the front nine and went on to shoot 76-75 and miss the cut.
This isn’t the first time DeChambeau has struggled overseas. While he has three top-four finishes at the PGA Championship and two wins at the U.S. Open, he has missed three cuts and logged just one top-30 finish in seven starts at the Open.
On Thursday, ahead of LIV Golf’s UK event, DeChambeau was remarkably open about his Open shortcomings — though it was clear he had plenty more to say on the subject.
“I’m going to try and keep this as quick as possible,” he said. “For me, I learned a lot more than I had in the other three majors. Playing more of American-style golf, even at Augusta, I’ve played there enough and I know how to play those types of golf courses, for the most part. Always can get better in small areas.
“But the Open Championship has always been kind of a different one for me. I have played well in sunny, dry, normal conditions there, but when it gets really wet and windy and nasty, I’ve always struggled.”
That in and of itself was a notable admission; many top pros are loath to admit weaknesses on any surface. But for DeChambeau, owning up to those struggles is the first step towards finding an answer. He felt like Open Friday marked a little progress.
“Last week, just felt like I broke the seal a bit in that second round,” he said. “Even though I didn’t play that great, I felt like I could control the golf ball for the first time in those types of conditions, and that was a huge moment for me to go, okay, I think I can do this if I just work a little bit harder leading into this tournament in these conditions.
“I think prep work next year is going to be a big thing for me going into the Open.”
An oversimplified version of DeChambeau’s approach is that he tries to hit the same shot shape every single time; he’d rather be the master of one than try to dial up something new depending on the situation. He makes some adjustments, of course — watch the Warming Up video below to get a better sense of how he thinks through this stuff — but prefers to hit a high draw whenever he can. That works better in soft conditions and mild winds than in the firm, gusty conditions of the U.K.
“If I can focus on figuring out how to get the wind down and making sure, if it’s a right-to-left wind, not hitting a draw in a 30-mile-an-hour right-to-left wind where it’s going to go 70 yards left,” he said. “Working on controlling shots, flighting shots, wedge shots and working in windy conditions on putting greens, I feel like I’m going to give myself a decent chance.”
If you’re reading that and thinking to yourself, yeah, duh, I get it. DeChambeau is basically preaching a doctrine of links golf that has existed as long as the game itself. You can’t impose your own game on links golf courses — you need to adapt to what they give you. But for someone who has embraced an unconventional approach so successfully and in as many different ways as DeChambeau has (in equipment, in technique, in practice routines, in mentality) it’s notable hearing him accept more conventional wisdom.
It’s also an admission that’s representative of his development of late: he’s okay to say when he’s wrong. He abandoned part of his bulking quest after it proved bad for him and elevated his risk of heart attack, for existence. Here’s what he told me earlier this year about regret:
“The thing I struggle with, when someone says ‘I regret this, I regret that,’ it’s like, wait, did you learn from it?” DeChambeau said on Warming Up. And if you didn’t learn from it, then yeah, sure, you can regret it. But if you’ve learned from the regretful moment, that is so valuable to your life. I don’t regret much. What I do know is I’ve learned from a lot of my mistakes.”
DeChambeau also had praise for the man who usurped him as the major championship performer of the year. Xander Schauffele played with DeChambeau in the final round of the Masters, where he finished T8. He finished a shot ahead of DeChambeau to win the PGA. He finished T7 at the U.S. Open. And then he pulled away from the field on Sunday at the Open to prove his game travels as well as anyone on the planet.
“Playing junior golf with [Schauffele], playing collegiate golf with him, he’s always been a superstar,” said DeChambeau; both grew up in California. “I’ve looked at him like, ‘Man, if I can beat him, that’s really good.’ He’s going to be great for a long time. Seeing his career develop and become better over the course of time has been awesome, and for him to win two this year, it’s a groundbreaking year for him.”
DeChambeau added something interesting: as much as the Open brings luck and randomness into the equation, Schauffele has the game to transcend good or bad breaks. That’s what he’s chasing, too.
“You always have to have luck on your side in certain conditions, but playing really steady golf like Xander did showed that it doesn’t matter; you can win with just a consistent good game. He obviously conquered that challenge, and one that I’m looking forward to next year.”
Sitting alongside him, Paul Casey could only poke fun.
“By the way, that was such a dumbed-down answer,” he said. “Because the one you gave us yesterday was about 15 minutes long and involved spin axis and geometry of golf balls and contact and…”
It’s safe to say DeChambeau’s links golf rethink is just getting started.
