Bryson DeChambeau accused of 'acting like an eight-year-old' after saying his driver 'sucks'

Bryson DeChambeau has been accused of “acting like an eight-year-old” by his own equipment-makers for declaring “my driver sucks” after a frustrating start to the Open Championship.

While playing partner Jordan Spieth shot a 65 to stand one off Louis Oosthuizen’s first-round lead, DeChambeau struggled to a 71 and characteristically pointed the finger of blame anywhere but himself.

“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, after hitting just four of 14 fairways.

“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.”

Cobra signed up DeChambeau to a long-term deal when he turned pro five years ago and pay him millions to play with their clubs. Understandably the Californian company was not at all impressed with his comments. However, it is extremely rare for a sponsor to call out a player, especially one with such a profile as the world No 6.

“It’s just really, really painful when Bryson says something that stupid,” Ben Schomin, Cobra’s tour operations manager, told USA Today.

“He has never really been happy, ever. It’s like an eight-year-old that gets mad at you. They might fly off the handle and say, ‘I hate you.’ But then you go. ‘Whoa, no you don’t.’

“We know as adults that they really don’t mean that and I know that if I got Bryson cornered right now and said, ‘What the hell did you say that for?’ he would say that he was mad. He didn’t really mean to say it that harshly. He knows how much everyone bends over backwards for him, but it’s still not cool.”

DeChambeau is close to Schomin, who stepped in as emergency caddie two weeks ago when Tim Tucker, DeChambeau’s long-time bagman, walked out on the eve of the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

The 27-year-old, who won the US Open so impressively last year, has not been performing anywhere near his best, with only one top 10 in his last nine starts. Tensions have clearly been building in the background and it will be fascinating to see how he responds to these criticisms.

DeChambeau’s power game is obviously built on the obscene distances he can launch the ball. He has recorded ball speeds of more than 200mph - unprecedented on Tour - and regularly hit it more than 400 yards in practice. He is currently using a driver that is 46 inches long with only 5 degrees loft. It is not on general sale, but has been developed solely for DeChambeau.

“Everybody is looking for a magic bullet,” Schoomin said. “Well, the magic bullet becomes harder and harder to find the faster you swing and the lower your loft gets.”

Many in the game will view this as DeChambeau’s latest hissy fit as he seeks to deflect the attention from his own shortcomings.

He shot a disastrous final nine holes of 44 to tumble out of contention at last month’s US Open and put it down solely to bad breaks. He has implied that marshals have it in for him, as does the US Golf Association and TV camera operatives and he insists that he is not a slow player and steadfastly denies that he has a history of neglecting to shout “fore!”.

In his ongoing feud with Brooks Koepka, he has claimed that he “lives rent free in his head”, while declaring he wants nothing to do with a war of words.

Yet it is fair to say that in the last 14 months - since he emerged from the first lockdown with 40lbs more of bulk - that he has become the most talked about active player in the game. And yet again, his antics have stolen the headlines.

The irony is that on one-over he is not out of it if he can fight back in the second round. He is only one shot off the cut mark, seven off Oosthuizen’s pace. And it could be much, much worse. He could be Phil Mickelson. The 51-year-old, who shocked the world two months ago by winning the USPGA, shot a 10-over 80 to stand in a tie for last place in the 156-man field.

The South African’s bogey-free 64 was further evidence of his ability to deliver at the majors. Oosthuizen is like Koepka in that regard. In his last 29 starts, the 38-year-old has racked up three top-three finishes - and they have all been in majors.

This wonderful ball-striker has recorded back-to-back seconds at the USPGA in May and then the US Open in June and that means he has a remarkable six runners-up in the majors since he won the 2010 Open at St Andrews.

“I was beaten by better golf at the end in both of the last two majors,” he said. “You have to get over it quickly. I’ve learnt over the years playing majors that patience is the key thing.”

That last statement might be especially pertinent as the wind picks up and Royal St George’s becomes firmer. There can be no doubt that the later starters were a disadvantage. Only Benjamin Hebert (66), Webb Simpson (66), Tommy Fleetwood 67) and Collin Morikawa (67) ended the day in the top 18 having teed off after 1pm.

Rory McIlroy shot a battling 70 from the afternoon wave and from that he should take great heart. Still, the Ulsterman will require a good morning to move into weekend contention.

Spieth looked ominous in his 65, reeling off four successive birdies from the fourth. It matches his lowest score at an Open and the previous came in the first round at Birkdale in 2017 when he went on to triumph. Spieth’s left-handed countryman Brian Harman is also on five-under while 2009 champion Stewart is in the group on four-under.

It was a promising day for England, as the nation seeks its first Claret Jug in 29 years, with Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Andy Sullivan and Jack Senior all matching Fleetwood’s three-under beginning.

DeChambeau's 'bomb and gouge' strategy falters while Spieth finds Nirvana

By Mick Cleary, at Royal St George's

The voice crackled through the marshal’s walkie-talkie beside the first tee. Traffic jams outside. Those already on the inside felt extra-privileged, a double-bill of action about to unfold featuring The Mad Professor, Bryson DeChambeau, and Redemption Man, Jordan Spieth, in search of a glorious past when life was sweet and golf was easy.

It was no contest with neither DeChambeau or the third player in the group, South African Branden Grace, able to replicate the touch and insights of the former Open champion as Spieth, the winner at Royal Birkdale four years ago, hit a hot streak just prior to the turn, four successive birdies setting him up for a five-under 65.

DeChambeau, by comparison, carded a 71, a fittingly underwhelming return for a wayward round, feckless and reckless at times, curiously composed at others. The American, who has missed two cuts in his three previous appearances at the Open, is already a fading presence on the leaderboard, no mean feat for a bloke of substantial frame, one who wouldn’t look out of place in the middle of a Springbok maul.

Mind you, he managed to bring some of that rugbyesque in-your-face prickliness with the verbals about his driver.

However, the gallery cared little. They were here for the crack, be it the fun of the experience itself, that first bound of freedom, or the sound of DeChambeau’s driver as it unleashed sporting venom into the sky. Love him or loathe him, you simply can’t ignore him, as his sponsors know to their cost.

The ‘bomb and gouge,’ strategy had limited effect, however, apart from troubling Air Traffic Control guiding aircraft into the nearby Kent International airfield. DeChambeau hit only four of 14 fairways and might have been better served employing Bear Grylls as his caddie so much time did he spend foraging in the undergrowth, examining the unfamiliar flora and fauna as if he were a transatlantic David Bellamy.

Several times DeChambeau had to flex his Popeye biceps to hack the ball from the deep, deep rough.

DeChambeau was not a happy chappy, his team getting into a brief spat with a marshall as he left the 18th while his Tinkerman mind vented its ire on the very thing that has made him such a draw-card in the first place – his driver, the Big Beast, the very essence of this gym-shaped hulk.

It appears that this is not a match made in heaven. “The driver right now, it sucks,” said DeChambeau, provoking Cobra, his equipment-makers, to accuse him of “acting like an eight-year-old”. More controversy, more headlines. Suddenly, last year’s US Open breakthrough and the birth of DeChambeau’s supposed revolution seems a long time ago.

In contrast, Spieth is rediscovering his Nirvana and perhaps DeChambeau should read his countryman’s words and understand the necessity to take personal responsibility for any downfall between the ropes. DeChambeau remains world No 6 and this does not have to be a slide, dramatic or otherwise, if he looks within for the solutions..

Spieth, the three-time major-winner and former world No 1, spiralled to 92nd in the rankings following a missed cut in his first event of this season. But this particular 27-year-old continued to buckle down, with little fuss and a heroic absence of moaning and has since recorded six top 10s including a tie for third at the Masters in April. In that same month, the Texan claimed his first victory since winning the 2017 Open at Birkdale.

"Golf is a game played between the ears, right?" Spieth said after matching his opening round at Birkdale. "When it's not going great, you can certainly lose quite a bit of confidence in it. That was the first time I've had to really try and build confidence back up, and it takes time.

"By no means do I feel like I'm where I want to be mechanically yet, but this year has been a really, really good progression. All I'm trying to do is just get a little bit better each day."