Open legend brutally dismisses Bryson DeChambeau as American confirms huge change this week

Golf icon Nick Faldo has torn into Bryson DeChambeau’s game ahead of the Open Championship, claiming he has ‘zero clue of strategy’.

US star DeChambeau heads to Royal Birkdale off the back of a nightmare run in 2026, having missed the cut of all three majors so far this year.

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Despite his horror streak on golf’s main stages, DeChambeau has impressed on the LIV Golf circuit.

The 32-year-old won both LIV Golf Singapore and LIV Golf South Africa in March, but he has now gone almost a year since his last positive run at a major.

At last year’s Open Championship, DeChambeau finished tied-10th, recovering well after a challenging opening round.

The powerful American shot a seven-over par 78 on day one at Royal Portrush, which left him scrambling to make the cut the next day.

Heading into the British major last year, DeChambeau outlined his plans to implement an aggressive strategy in the first round, stating that his ‘driver would be key’.

Falling Fal

After DeChambeau’s tactics nearly cost him at last year’s Open, British icon Faldo has now cast doubt over his judgement when it comes to playing links golf.

Faldo certainly knows a thing or two about how to approach these courses, having won the major three times in his storied career – tasting glory twice at Muirfield and once at St Andrews.

And the six-time major winner believes a more conservative plan will be required for DeChambeau to progress at Birkdale this week.

Faldo told the Sky Sports Golf podcast: “I’d say it to his face – DeChambeau has zero clue of strategy.

“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.

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“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.”

Sharing his approach to links golf, Faldo explained players need to work backwards from the green when plotting out how to attack each hole in links golf.

He continued: “I always used to look for all the downslopes because you don’t have to hit the driver. 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.

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“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.”

DeChambeau reveals major tweak

While Faldo cast doubt over DeChambeau’s game when it comes to links golf, it appears the LIV star has been self-reflecting too.

Known as the ‘Mad Scientist’ for his analytical approach to tinkering with his equipment and his swing in a bid for greater distance, the two-time major winner has announced another change as he prepares to take on Birkdale.

Having previously used 3D-printed irons, DeChambeau is now set to deploy a brand-new set this week as he looks to win his third major championship.

DeChambeau said on Monday: “This is a tough golf course; I like it. It really tests every facet of your game.

“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.

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“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.”

Despite heading into the final major of the year looking to avoid a clean-sweep of missed cuts, DeChambeau insisted he will see anything less than victory at the Open as failure.

Speaking after his first Open practice round, he said: “I’m not trying to send a message to anybody other than me and myself, and knowing what I know I can do.

“You know, if I don’t win, I’ll be disappointed. Anything else is a loss, whether it’s second or anything past that.

“It’s always nice to play well and have a good finish, and you’re always proud of yourself, but at the end of the day, I’m a competitor, and I care about winning and doing my best, and, hopefully I can do that this week.”