Bryson DeChambeau has again put himself on a path to going home Friday night at the Open Championship with a first-round 78.
DeChambeau had zero birdies, three bogeys and two double bogeys at Royal Portrush, a miserable afternoon that is but all too familiar for one of the biggest golf stars in the world.
He’s averaged a first-round 73.6 in seven previous Open appearances, missing the cut three times and only truly being in it once — at the 2022 Open at St. Andrews, where he finished T8.
What’s the problem? He’ll dance around it but it’s really quite simple: DeChambeau’s power is in him thinking of every possible angle and determining the best way for him to overpower the golf course. Links courses pose so many questions to you that you cannot possibly find an answer to them all, and must withstand. It’s a style of golf that’s just not meant for him.
The 18th hole was emblematic of that — DeChambeau forced the issue from the fairway, attacking a pin position he was in place to attack. He instead ends up in a roll-off area, takes three shots to get into the hole and cards another bogey when he’d have been better served taking his par medicine.