Nick Faldo frees Bryson DeChambeau at the Open: ‘No clue’
Heading into the 2026 Open Championship, Bryson DeChambeau is trying to avoid a bad streak in his career. The two-time winner missed out on the first three awards of the year. Another one this week would give DeChambeau the dreaded Missed-Cut Slam.
While DeChambeau hopes the ugly streak ends this week at Royal Birkdale, there’s one golf legend he’s not betting on. Not by a long shot.
That golf legend is Nick Faldo.
A six-time long-time TV golf commentator, Faldo joined the Sky Sports Golf Podcast this week and took down DeChambeau for his lack of strategy when playing links golf and his poor record in majors recently.
Faldo on DeChambeau’s missed big cut: ‘That should be a Rough Slam’
DeChambeau’s record in the majors this year has been decidedly poor. At the Masters in April, he opened with a 76, then fought back valiantly on Friday before a dangerous triple bogey on 18 sent him home in the morning.
At the PGA in Aronimink, he went 76-71 to miss another cut. Things didn’t go much better at the US Open last month, where he shot a 75 in Round 2 to miss the cut by one.
Those memorable performances came during a difficult season for DeChambeauon LIV Golf where he won back-to-back events. But LIV may be adding to DeChambeau’s issues right now. His contract expires this year, and LIV’s future is in doubt.
When asked about DeChambeau’s record major in 2026 in his Sky Sports Golf Podcast interview with Jamie Weir, Faldo didn’t hold back.
“It’s unbelievable, isn’t it?” Faldo said. “That should be ‘Rough Slam,’ right? We should name it.”
He then argued that the biggest difference between Bryson’s performance in LIV compared to the majors is the trend among LIV’s “big stars”.
“Yeah, it’s a classic,” Faldo said. “That’s part of the story is they’re stars at LIV and they come and they can’t do it.”
For the record, while Faldo’s theory pretty much explained DeChambeau’s season, DeChambeau has had more success since joining LIV.
In addition to his 2024 US Open win, he finished T6 in that year’s Masters and finished second in the PGA Championship, although he missed the cut in the Open Championship.
Last season, DeChambeau missed the US Open, but had a T5 at the Masters and a T2 at the PGA Championship. He capped off a major 2025 season with a T10 at the Open.
Faldo criticizes DeChambeau’s links strategy: ‘I can say it to his face’
But of all DeChambeau’s greatest crimes, Faldo identified his golf swing as the worst.
As he said in his Sky Sports interview, Faldo thinks DeChambeau has “no clue” when it comes to links golf that is played every year in the Open Championship.
“He has – I can tell from his face – he has absolutely no strategy,” Faldo said.
He continued with a more detailed critique: “I mean, he said it last year and I thought on TV, ‘I’m going to come out and attack the links.’ Well, I never attacked the links. He’s teasing you, isn’t he? You have served it well, it is very important.”
Faldo said the key to golf swings is navigating the “bumps and bumps” and ball-storing pots to get your ball safely on the fairway. He contrasted that with DeChambeau’s reputation for prioritizing distance off the tee over accuracy.
“You don’t think, ‘I’m going to bomb it down there, I can’t see where I’m going, it’s 20 meters wide.’ Yes, I wish you luck,” said Faldo. “You have to think, ‘How do I get it in the short grass?’ It is very important.”
Faldo said DeChambeau “is going to get up and keep bombing … but you can’t be completely blocked from the links.”
Driving precision will be a key ingredient in a winning campaign at this week’s Open at Royal Birkdale, which is already running faster than an IndyCar track.
Pro Michael Kim specifically called fairway potholes the worst hazard on Monday, writing in X, “Bad. Avoid anywhere.”
DeChambeau’s LIV Golf member Jon Rahm, the third betting favorite for this week’s Open, seems to agree with Faldo’s strategic advice. During a pre-tournament press conference at Royal Birkdale, Rahm warned that it depends on your driver at the Open Championships.
“From what I’ve learned in the past, if you start taking drivers out of the Open Championship, you can do a good job for a short period of time,” Rahm said. “Maybe you can get away with one round. In four rounds, you’re going to start getting places you don’t want to be in, and you’re going to pay the price.”
Despite all the criticism, DeChambeau has played well in Opens before. In addition to his T10 last year at Royal Portrush, he finished T8 at the 2022 Open. However, in the middle, he dropped to T60 in 2023 and missed the cut in 2024.
