Sir Nick Faldo has launched an extraordinary attack on Bryson DeChambeau’s strategy ahead of The Open, insisting the American has “zero clue” how to navigate Royal Birkdale.
The LIV Golf recruit, 32, is attempting to avoid an unwanted slam of missing all four cuts in the majors in 2026.
He tees off at 9:58am BST on Thursday alongside defending champion, Scottie Scheffler, and England’s Tyrrell Hatton.
Bookmakers give DeChambeau an outside chance of lifting the Claret Jug on Sunday but Faldo, 68, is giving the YouTube golf star no hope of success.
“I’d say it to his face – DeChambeau has zero clue of strategy,” Faldo told the Sky Sports Golf podcast.
“He said last year: ‘I’m going to go out and attack the links’. Well, I’ve never attacked a links. You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway.
“You look at humps and bumps. If I send it over and feed it, it nudges back into play. You don’t think: ‘Oh, I’ll just blast it down there. Can’t see where I’m going’. The fairway is 20 yards wide.
“Good luck! Even if you hit it fantastic and it lands on the corner of a divot, you might still miss the fairway.
“So you’ve got to think: ‘How do I get it on the short grass?’ It is so important.”
Faldo, who won three Open Championships throughout his illustrious career, said players in the 156-man field do not need to always rely on using the driver.
“I always used to look for all the downslopes because you don’t have to hit the driver,” he added.
“You can twang your 1-iron or a 3-wood.
“You hit it on the downslope, it scoots forward, you get an extra 30 yards of run.
“There’s no need to put yourself under pressure to hit the fairway with your driver.
“You’ve just got to think like that. That’s the priority when playing links golf.”
Where has it gone wrong for Bryson DeChambeau in 2026?
It’s been a surprisingly uneven year for Bryson DeChambeau.
He has a pair of wins in the LIV Golf League, which came back-to-back in Singapore and South Africa, but his performances in the majors have been underwhelming to say the least.
DeChambeau exited from the halfway stage of the Masters in dramatic fashion, somehow making a triple bogey on the 18th when only one dropped shot would’ve carried him through to the weekend.
He couldn’t recover from a slow start at the PGA Championship and did the same at last month’s U.S. Open.
Critics have suggested his dip in form is closely linked to the uncertainty surrounding LIV Golf’s future.
DeChambeau has reportedly been heavily involved in helping the league find some $300m of fresh capital from new investors to keep going in 2027.
It remains to be seen what LIV’s future will look like but, for his part, DeChambeau has insisted the uncertainty has played no part in his preparations for the majors.
“Nobody is perfect, and I’m still working hard to play as good as I possibly can,” he said last month.
“The year before I played really well in the majors, missed one cut there [2025 US Open], and it just happens.
“That’s golf, and ultimately excited for the opportunities I have moving forward.”
Bryson DeChambeau puts new irons into the bag for 2026 Open
Bryson DeChambeau will also be using a new set of 3D-printed irons this week.
He will also retain the TaylorMade prototype driver he put into play ahead of the U.S. Open.
DeChambeau opened up on his decision to switch to the new irons in a segment of Live At The Range.
“I’ve got new irons in the bag. They were 3D-printed. They take about an hour to print. From machining and printing and all the different processes we make.
“It’s cool with my irons; they’re spinning out of the rough more consistently. It’s a new set of irons with different grooves. We’ve already sent them to the USGA.”
On his chances for success this week, DeChambeau said: “On a course like this, if I feel good I know I can give myself a chance.
“I know I haven’t had the best results this year, but I’ve won twice, and top-three’d three times.
“Just a couple of weird things happening at the majors.
“If it goes well for me this week, great. If it doesn’t, I’ll keep moving on and creating as much as I can.”
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Article originally appeared on: Golfmagic.com