TROON, Scotland — Conventional wisdom, grounded in a data sample compiled over the past 164 years, says the key to success in the Open Championship is more about art than analytics, that links golf itself is best understood through poetry rather than pedagoguery. So it came as no surprise to learn Thursday that Bryson DeChambeau is taking the opposite tack in trying to solve a puzzle that continues to confound him.
His opening round in the 152nd Open was, as the Scots say, dreich — a word usually reserved for the dismal weather that has settled over the Ayrshire coast. Like a whiskey hangover, it began painfully and offered little respite. He was 6-over-par through eight holes. The skill for which he is most celebrated — the tee ball — was firing, but not much else. In approach play and putting, DeChambeau wasn’t close to breaking the top 120 in the 157-man field as the day wore on. He made 104 feet 5 inches of putts, but 54 feet 11 inches of that came on one stroke, an eagle putt on the 16th hole. He signed for a 5-over par round of 76.
Most Tour players would quickly dismiss a day like today, chalking up poor scores to the whipping wind, scattered rain and penal hazards on this venerable old links. Others certainly did.
“It’s tough. It’s really tough … It’s brutal.” — Brian Harman (73)
“Disappointed. Got off to a bad start. Missed every sort of important putt. Drove it pretty poor. It wasn’t the best day.” — Tommy Fleetwood (76)
“One of the worst rounds I think I’ve had this year … It wasn’t a fun experience.” — Tyrrell Hatton (73)
“I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions. Your misses get punished a lot more this week.” — Rory McIlroy (78)
“They cannae f——-g play!” a cantankerous old Scot of my acquaintance muttered derisively.
DeChambeau is a cause-and-effect guy, willing to ascribe only so much of his performance to the vagaries of the conditions. “It’s a completely different test. I didn’t get any practice in it, and I didn’t really play much in the rain. It’s a difficult test out here,” the U.S. Open champion said. “Something I’m not familiar with. I never grew up playing it, and not to say that that’s the reason; I finished eighth at St. Andrews. I can do it when it’s warm and not windy.”
Unfortunately for him, warm and windless weather isn’t on tap this week, nor many dry spells. They seldom are at the Open.
“I’m going to go figure it out,” he announced after signing his card. His game plan for mastering the ancient linksland won’t rely on inspirational talk about art or poetry, but on Flightscopes and Trackmans.
“It’s something equipment-related. The golf ball is — look, I’m not at 190 ball speed, so particularly when I’m hitting driver or 3-wood, those clubs are built for around that speed, that 190 ball speed, and my 3-wood around 180, so colder, firmer conditions the golf ball is not compressing as much,” he said. “So it’s probably something along those lines.”
Somewhere Old Tom Morris, or even Young Tom Watson, chuckles.
“When there’s so many measurements going on in your mind — ,” a reporter began.
“There’s not that many. There’s a couple but not that many,” DeChambeau quickly replied, like a kid denying having eaten the cake he has just smeared all over his face.
The man who seldom provides stock answers seemed to be struggling to understand why his stock shots didn’t deliver stock results, while being reluctant to accept that stock shots can lose value in the crosswinds and firm conditions that prevailed Thursday at Royal Troon.
“I was trying to draw the ball and the ball was knuckling a little bit. It was a really difficult challenge, and I should have just cut the ball.”
“I was swinging it somewhat okay, just the ball wasn’t coming off in that window that I normally see, so it was a weird day.”
DeChambeau also referenced that windows theory in a press conference two days ago. “Most people try to see it through windows. I do too, but not that specific,” he said. “It’s more of, if I take it back a certain distance and go through, it will come out with a certain launch just based on the loft. So I’m really focused on accomplishing that task, just swinging the way I want to swing, and the results will speak for themselves hopefully.”
The results didn’t produce a comforting message but continued an unimpressive trend. In six previous appearances in the Open, the outlier remains a T-8 finish two years ago at the Old Course, the only venue he can bludgeon his way around. Otherwise, there are two missed cuts, no finishes inside the top 30, and two outside the top 50.
“I’m just proud of the way I persevered today. Shoot, man, I could have thrown in the towel after nine and could have been like, I’m going home. But no, I’ve got a chance tomorrow. I’m excited for the challenge,” he said. “If I have some putts go in and hit some shots the way I know how to and figure out this equipment stuff, I’ll be good.”
Who knows, DeChambeau might be proven right. He’s an inveterate problem solver. So too was Ivan Lendl, but then Lendl never quite managed to figure out his sport’s oldest and most prestigious major championship contested in the British Isles. And like the tennis great, even DeChambeau’s failure to solve the riddle is oddly compelling.
Friday at 2:48 p.m. Troon time, he gets to try again, beginning from well outside the projected cut. By the dinner hour, we’ll know whether golf fans will wait 262 days — or only 260 — before seeing him again in a tournament that matters.