Bryson DeChambeau's caller muscles were nary lucifer for the upwind blowing successful from the English Channel and the heavy thatches of unsmooth astatine Royal St. George's.
Neither was his driver.
DeChambeau's bulked-up assemblage made its links debut successful the British Open connected Thursday, and helium paid for his agelong but errant drives with a 1-over 71 successful the archetypal round. The 2020 U.S. Open champion was 7 strokes down Louis Oosthuizen.
"I'm surviving connected the razor's edge," said DeChambeau, who erased his 4 birdies with 5 bogeys astatine the 6,573-metre layout alongside Sandwich Bay.
"It's rather finicky for me, due to the fact that it's a play people that's beauteous short," helium said. "And truthful erstwhile I deed operator and it doesn't spell successful the fairway ... it's pugnacious for maine to get it retired onto the greenish and power that."
DeChambeau didn't mince words erstwhile idiosyncratic suggested helium inactive could contend for the claret jug if helium tin get it successful the fairway.
DeChambeau says operator 'sucks'
"If I tin deed it down the mediate of the fairway, that's great, but with the operator close present ... the operator sucks," helium said. "It's not a bully look for maine and we're inactive trying to fig retired however to marque it bully connected the mis-hits."
His appraisal irked Ben Schomin, the circuit operations manager astatine Cobra and 1 of those who designs and builds DeChambeau's clubs however helium wants them. Schomin told Golfweek the Cobra unit is trying to physique clubs for which determination is nary information due to the fact that fewer others plaything arsenic hard and accelerated arsenic DeChambeau.
"Everybody is bending implicit backwards," Schomin said. "He knows it. It's conscionable really, truly achy erstwhile helium says thing that stupid."
DeChambeau, who has not finished successful the apical 20 successful the 4 majors helium has played since winning the U.S. Open past year, doesn't deliberation it's the quality of links play that causes problems, alternatively the upwind that accompanies it.
He recalled playing good successful the 2015 Walker Cup astatine Royal Lytham & St. Annes, posting a 2-0-1 grounds successful singles.
"The times I've played successful the British Opens successful the past, I deliberation they've been a small bedewed and windy," helium said aft his signifier round. "I usually conflict connected that successful general."
But that was each earlier helium added 40 pounds of wide and musculus truthful helium could plaything faster, deed the shot farther and summation a immense vantage by having shorter clubs to the green, adjacent if the shot is successful the rough.
"This is the archetypal clip I've taken my magnitude to links golf," DeChambeau said Tuesday. "The cardinal is driving it successful the fairway this week. No substance what, you've got to beryllium successful the fairway. If I get ... into the hay, astir apt not going to person a bully accidental this week."
Instead, helium deed conscionable 4 of 14 fairways successful the opening round. And alternatively than utilizing his caller bulk to acceptable up shorter approaches connected Thursday, helium needed it conscionable to musculus his mode retired of the thigh-high rough.
The mediocre commencement astatine Royal St. George's continues a streak of disappointments since winning his lone large astatine Winged Foot. He tied for 34th successful the Masters successful November, for 46th successful the Masters successful April, for 38th astatine the PGA Championship and for 26th astatine the U.S. Open, wherever helium concisely had a one-shot pb successful the last round.
He besides mislaid the lone caddie he's had arsenic a pro, Tim Tucker, which they said was a communal decision. DeChambeau relies connected his caddie not conscionable for yardage and speechmaking greens but for his Mad Scientist worldly similar aerial density.
Working with DeChambeau for the archetypal clip is the replacement, Brian Zeigler, an teacher astatine Dallas National.
"It's surely throwing him into the heavy end," said DeChambeau, who posted a video connected Instagram of Ziegler jumping into a swimming excavation with a container of play clubs.
"He's OK with it. He loves it," DeChambeau said. "I would accidental that he's inactive learning the ropes a small bit, which is expected connected immoderate extremity erstwhile you person idiosyncratic caller that's truly ne'er caddied before, but I wanted idiosyncratic connected the container that I could spot arsenic overmuch arsenic I did with Tim, and I deliberation that's wherefore helium acceptable the spot truthful well."
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