{"id":805689,"date":"2026-07-17T08:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805689\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T08:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:06:15","slug":"the-open-championship-2026-bryson-dechambeau-swipes-nick-faldo-first-round-comments-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805689\/","title":{"rendered":"The Open Championship 2026: Bryson DeChambeau swipes Nick Faldo, first round comments, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> has taken a cryptic swipe at golf<\/a> legend Nick Faldo, who ahead of this weekend\u2019s British Open<\/a> declared the two-time US Open<\/a> winner had \u201czero clue of strategy\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the first round on Friday night (AEST), DeChambeau signed for a 3-under 67 to sit two shots off the lead. He is the midst of a dismal major season, having missed the cut in all three this year to-date.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bryson DeChambeau hit back at comments from Nick Faldo.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say it to his face \u2013 he has zero clue of strategy,\u201d Faldo said on Sky Sports this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said [last year], \u2018I\u2019m going to go out and attack the links.\u2019 Well, I\u2019ve never \u2018attacked\u2019 a links course.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeChambeau is in the middle of a self-imposed media ban that is now into its fifth major. After his round, he spoke only to an R&A official, who did not directly ask about Faldo\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

But the references were impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ve 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,\u201d DeChambeau said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 I placed the ball in some good areas, I just need to hit more fairways. Other than that, I feel like my strategy was nice today.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeChambeau opened with back-to-back birdies, and made three more at 10, 16 and 17. Bogeys on 14 \u2013 an ugly three-putt \u2013 and 18 were the only two blemishes on an otherwise stunning round.<\/p>\n

Faldo would also take credit for DeChambeau\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I rattled his cage,\u201d Faldo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has basically stuck you know what up and said, \u2018Faldo, I do have strategy\u2019. So I am taking claim that I switched on the strategy play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Min Woo Lee<\/a>, Lucas Herbert and major debutant Cameron John lead the Aussie charge at even-par. Travis Smythe is a shot further back at 1-over.<\/p>\n

Making just this third appearance at a major, Smyth played a practice round with world No.1 Scottie Scheffler on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Travis Smyth during the first round of The Open.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

But when it counted, the occasion might have got the better of him. He made two bogeys in his opening three holes, but recovered somewhat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still shit myself on the first tee. It\u2019s still not easy yet. It\u2019s never going to be easy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just great. Majors is where you want to play, and it\u2019s awesome. Pretty much every hole, apart from 16, was filled, just filled with people that are just parked up there for the day, plus people walking around. The atmosphere was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Scott<\/a> (2-over), Jason Day<\/a> and Cameron Smith<\/a> (both 3-over) will need to play well on Friday to make the cut.<\/p>\n

A fan-favourite, Scotsman Robert MacIntyre signed for a three-under 67 and gave fans the most relatable moment of the day. <\/p>\n

Having sprayed his approach shot on the par-4 18th well right of the green and into the rough, on-course mics caught him quip to his caddie in his thick accent: \u201cSuch a shite golf hole this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He still managed to chip to about a metre, and drained the putt to save par.<\/p>\n

American Jackson Suber, who until this week had never even been to Europe, leads by a shot after the first round.<\/p>\n

But maybe inexperience in links golf was the key to success on a course that was baked under the sun and warm, dry breezes. Five of the top-12 players are playing their first British Opens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

American Jackson Suber (blue) is the overnight leader after the first round.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Suber, 26, is playing in just his fourth major, and he\u2019s never made a cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust kind of kept the ball in good spots and didn\u2019t put much pressure on my game to make pars,\u201d Suber said.<\/p>\n

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler raced into the early lead when he birdied four of his first six holes, but ran dry for the rest of the round. He ended up signing for a 2-under 68.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I continue to strike the ball the way I did today and just keep giving myself looks, that\u2019s part of it,\u201d Scheffler said. <\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is played over 72 holes, and I definitely liked what I saw today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second round will continue on Friday evening (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bryson DeChambeau has taken a cryptic swipe at golf legend Nick Faldo, who ahead of this weekend\u2019s British…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-805689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}