SOUTHPORT, England – Scottie Scheffler thought he was severely punished for the few mistakes he made Thursday at Royal Birkdale.
Bryson DeChambeau, meanwhile, was trying to inflict his own punishment.
Strategy off the tee continues to be a major talking point this week, with no clear and obvious path to success on browned-out, baked-out fairways. DeChambeau busted driver with more frequency – even nearly driving the green on the 380-yard 10th – and took advantage of a few flighted wedges to sign for a 3-under 67; sitting in a tie for third as the afternoon wave gets underway, it’s just the second time in his Open career that he’s been inside the top 70 after the first round.
Because of DeChambeau’s relative lack of success on links courses, it’s little surprise that three-time Open champ Nick Faldo blasted him earlier this week, woofing that DeChambeau has “zero clue of strategy” with this style of play. He criticized DeChambeau’s arrogance in thinking that he could overpower links courses instead of threading shots between the penal pot bunkers.
“You’ve got to think, ‘How do I get it on the short grass?’” Faldo said earlier this week. “It’s so important.”
And yet it wasn’t particularly important on Thursday.
In the opening round, DeChambeau ranked nearly last in the field in driving accuracy, finding just four of 14 fairways. However, his only two dropped shots came after missed fairways: On 14, he didn’t carry the dunes down the left-hand side, necessitating a layup (he’d eventually three-putt from 30 feet); and he bogeyed the final hole after his second shot from the hay skittered over the back of the green.
“He flights the ball great; his ball flight today was really good. He didn’t really hit many bad shots,” Tyrrell Hatton said. “He’s an amazing player, and it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that he’s doing well.”
DeChambeau may need to evolve his plan of attack as the week progresses and Birkdale becomes progressively firmer, but the rough, in most spots, has not yet proven prohibitive because it is so burned out and wispy.
DeChambeau didn’t speak to reporters for the sixth consecutive major round, but he told an R&A spokesperson that he was pleased with his game plan on Day 1.
“I think you’ve got to be a lot more strategic out on the golf course,” he said. “I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic and focused super hard on placing it in the right places. Besides 18, I placed the ball in some good areas. I just need to hit more fairways. Other than that, I feel like my strategy was nice today.”
(Note his use of “strategic” three times in about 15 seconds. Your move, Sir Nick.)
DeChambeau’s mighty blasts may have had a knock-on effect with the rest of his group. Scheffler intended to lay back on more of the par 4s but was compelled to push the ball farther down after seeing DeChambeau and Hatton wield driver.
“There’s different ways to play the golf course, and I think that’s a sign of a good championship golf course,” Scheffler said. “I think it’s unique in a sense of we have to think a lot off the tee around this golf course.”
The defending Open champion played a largely clean round of 68 but was dinged for two miscues. On the 150-yard seventh, he missed the green with a wedge and was unable to get up and down. And on 17, looking to attack one of only two par 5s from the fairway, he blocked his long iron way right with the wind, his ball burrowing into the tall grass, and into such a horrific lie under cable wires, that he asked the fans nearby if anyone had stepped on the ball.
Scheffler was denied relief, and after he considered taking an unplayable, he hacked back across the hole. After an exquisite pitch that rode the slope, he actually gave himself a good look to salvage par, but his 4-footer never had a chance.
“I guess don’t hit it off-line,” he said.
Well, at least not in some places.
