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Nick Faldo can still fly with the best of them.
Faldo, a six-time major champion and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, tees off against Bryson DeChambeau. The 68-year-old golfer blasted the LIV Golf star for his strategy, or lack thereof, on the golf course ahead of the Royal Birkdale Open.
“That’s a whole part of the story, how they are superstars at LIV and then come in and can’t do it. So that’s another story. Then they become superstars again. He has – I will say it to his face – he has no idea of strategy,” Faldo told PK Press Club.
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Bryson DeChambeau during a practice session for the US Open golf tournament in Southampton, NY (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
The three-time Open champion referenced a DeChambeau quote from a year ago, citing the 32-year-old’s strategy error.
“He said it last year, I think, on TV: ‘I’m going to go out and attack the links.’ Well, I’ve never attacked a link. You put it on, right? You feed it on the fairway,” Faldo said.
“You look at the bumps and everything you have and you think, ‘If I send it out and feed it, it comes back in play.’ You don’t think, “I’m just going to bomb it there, I can’t see where I’m going, it’s 20 meters wide.” Oh yeah, good luck.”
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Tom Watson and Nick Faldo walk onto the sixth green during the Par 3 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. (Peter Casey/Imagn Images)
Faldo criticized DeChambeau for his stubbornness and unwillingness to change his strategy.
“I mean, all of that, even if you hit it fantastically, it lands on the corner of a divot, you still miss the fairway. So, you have to think, how do I get it on the short grass? It’s so important, and it will get back up and keep bombing,” Faldo said.
DeChambeau had an inauspicious start to the season, missing the cut at the Masters, the US Open and the PGA Championship. DeChambeau qualified for this year’s Open Championship after finishing in the top 10 last year.
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Bryson DeChambeau reacts after his putt on the 13th green during the first round of the US Open golf tournament in Southampton, NY (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He will have to prove Faldo wrong and change his game in the first two rounds of the Open in order to qualify for a major tournament this year.
DeChambeau also needs a strong showing in golf’s final major of the year if he wants to earn anything close to the gargantuan $500 million contract he’s reportedly seeking when his LIV Golf contract expires.
