Bryson DeChambeau
has won twice on LIV Golf this season, but at the majors he has not survived a single cut. Days before he tees up at Royal Birkdale for the final major of 2026, one that could complete an unwanted sweep of all four missed cuts, the two-time U.S. Open champion finds himself under fire. Former World No. 1, Sir Nick Faldo, speaking to Sky Sports Golf, did not hold back on what he believes is really going wrong with the American's game.
"I'd say it to his face; he has zero clue of strategy," Sir Faldo said on the show
. "He said it last year, I think on TV, he said, 'I'm going to go out and attack the links.' Well, I've never attacked a link; you thread it, don't you? You feed it down the fairway; it's really important. You look at humps and bumps and whatever have you. If I send it over and feed it, it nudges back into play."
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Links golf is not a test of brute force in the way American parkland courses are. Fairways run firm and narrow, wind changes club selection hole to hole, and the ball reacts to slope and hollows long after it lands. A drive that would sit dead center on a soft American fairway can kick sideways into fescue on a links course. Sir Nick Faldo's argument is that shot shaping and course management matter more here than anywhere else on the calendar. That's precisely the skill set critics say DeChambeau's driving-distance-first approach lacks, and Faldo explained why he thought the LIV Golf pro is clueless.
"You've got to think, 'How do I get it on the short grass?' It is so important. And here's the stand-up: just keep bombing away, and they think, 'Oh, they got it, you know, got it further down.' But you can be completely blocked out on a links course," the six-time major winner added.
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The Englishman had previously said that although he liked DeChambeau, he didn't like how he played at times. While his latest comments might sound harsh, the six-time major winner made a valid point. In fact, DeChambeau, infamously, said at the 2024 Open Championship that he would play well in this major if there were no wind. An Open Championship without gusts is nearly impossible. The Crushers GC captain has tried many methods before to crack the code. That included floating an idea of practicing in a wind tunnel.
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"Imagine a scenario where you've got a 400-yard tent, and you can just hit any type of shot with any wind with all the fans," DeChambeau said in 2025. "That's what I imagine, like in a hangar or something like that in a big stadium. That would be cool to test."
That idea has yet to materialize, and Bryson DeChambeau is aware that winds, slopes, dunes—everything Faldo highlighted—will play a big role.
"I would say Open Championship golf is different, as you have to try and control the uncontrollable," he was quoted by LIV Golf as saying. "Wind and bounces and slopes, which are sometimes difficult to judge from 200 yards away. The U.S. Open is a little more consistent in that regard, but Open Championship golf has the roots and traditions of the game of golf."
The American has two wins on the LIV Golf League this season, in Singapore and South Africa, and remains one of the circuit's more consistent players. On the major stage, however, the results have gone quite the opposite way.
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At the Masters in Augusta, he opened with a four-over 76. He was inside the cut line but made a triple bogey at the 18th to finish six over. He ended up missing the cut by two.
Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut again at Aronimink after a difficult two rounds at the PGA Championship. At Shinnecock Hills, he three-putted for back-to-back double bogeys on the third and fourth holes of round two, carding rounds of 70 and 75 to finish five over. He missed the weekend by a single shot.
The 32-year LIV star addressed the run himself in a YouTube video on his channel titled "I Missed Three Straight Cuts, Let's Talk About It." He walked fans through every shot of his Shinnecock round, admitting,
"Just last year, this time before the U.S. Open, I was one of the best major championship performers in the world. Come one year later, everybody says I'm the worst. It just is what it is," Bryson DeChambeau said.
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Moreover, he rejected the idea that content creation was a distraction for him on the course. He even admitted and promised the fans that he is putting his best foot forward and would not want to miss another chance at the final major.
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