The Open Championship was always going to be a tough go for Bryson DeChambeau. His bash-the-hell-out-of-the-ball style works just fine at a normal PGA Tour venue. But at a links course, where English Channel winds reshape ball flight and waist-deep hay swallows errant shots, DeChambeau needs to either rework his thinking or start making other weekend plans.
DeChambeau hit only four of 14 fairways on Thursday, part of the reason he ended up at 1-over for the day and seven strokes behind clubhouse leader Louis Oosthuizen. After the round, he gave an impromptu equipment review:
“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks," he said.