Bryson DeChambeau is on the brink of a calendar slam of missed cuts.
The 32-year-old enters this week’s British Open at Royal Birkdale looking to reach the weekend of a major for the first time this year after missing the cut at The Masters, the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
It seems unfathomable that a multi-time major champion who had three top-10 finishes (two top-five) in majors last year and is still in the prime of his career could be struggling so badly on the biggest stages, especially given he has played well in LIV Golf events, winning two tournaments in March.
Nick Faldo shared his thoughts on DeChambeau’s major struggles.
“That’s a whole part of the story, how they’re superstars at LIV then come over and can’t do it. So that’s all another story. Then they go back to be superstars. He has — I’d say it to his face — he has zero clue of strategy,” Faldo, the three-time British Open winner and three-time Masters champion, told Sky Sports.
DeChambeau, Faldo believes, is too worried about bombing the ball as far as he can instead of adjusting to the course, citing a comment DeChambeau made last year about wanting to “attack the links.”
“Well, I’ve never attacked a links. You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway,” Faldo said, noting it’s ill-advised to worry about distance when you can’t see where the ball is going.
According to golf reporter Justin Ray, the last time a golfer with multiple major victories missed the cut at all four majors in a calendar year was 1998, when Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw both did it; they were each in their mid-to-late 40s at the time.
DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, told Sky Sports he has new 3D-printed irons for the British Open.
“This is a very tough golf course. I like it,” DeChambeau said. “It really tests every facet of your game.”
