ROUGH START FOR BRYSON
DeChambeau loses opening duel with Koepka… and club
BROOKS or Bryson – which of the feuding Americans would you rather go for a drink with?
It was a question put to Rory McIlroy ahead of this Open Championship.
There was a lengthy pause before the four-time Major champion made his decision.
“Brooks,” he said. “I have more in common with him.”
Brooks Koepka is a straightforward, if occasionally blunt instrument; Bryson DeChambeau a high-IQ but highmaintenance creation operating in his own unique universe.
Their fractious relationship, which originated when Koepka called out DeChambeau for slow play two and a half years ago and has simmered ever since, saw more of their dirty laundry aired before the first ball was struck this week.
Golf etiquette usually dictates that this sort of aggro does not make it into the public arena but the ongoing spat creates an intrigue, particularly with the duo soon to be team-mates on America’s Ryder Cup team in September. The R&A in their wisdom chose to keep the pair seven groups apart yesterday which offered the Kent galleries a choice of their own to make.
The head count for DeChambeau’s group, which also included Jordan Spieth, right, was considerably higher than Koepka’s.
It was pretty clear why and the monster hitter did not let his public down. After a cautious start with an iron off the first tee, DeChambeau went at Royal St George’s all guns blazing.
As he launched his driver at the ball, the cries of awe spread along the lines of fans like waves of wonder. Unfortunately for
DeChambeau that was where the reverie ended.
By the time the ball came down – seven seconds later – it tended to be in the thick rough.
The result was a 73 – two shots worse than Koepka and a fallout with his club manufacturers.
“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great but the driver right now sucks. I’m living on the razor’s edge,” admitted world No.6 DeChambeau.
“It’s quite finicky for me because it’s a golf course that’s pretty short, and so when I hit driver and it doesn’t go in the fairway, or it’s in the hay, it’s tough for me to get it out on to the green and control that.”
The smash-and-gouge approach that won him the US Open at
Winged Foot 10 months ago by six strokes does not translate when you need a scythe for your second shot.
The second hole was an illustrative example.
DeChambeau’s drive went 351 yards but he took so much grass with his next shot that he was unable to make the green – 70 yards away – and had to settle for a par.
The Californian was so far left off the tee at the ninth he was almost in Sussex.
He hit only four fairways yesterday yet still managed a run of three birdies after the turn and could have finished level had an eight-footer for birdie at the 18th not slid by.
As it was though Koepka, who recovered from his own scattergun start off the tee to break par, edged their socially distant personal contest.
Round two today sees battle resume 82 minutes apart. The mischievous will be hoping DeChambeau hauls Koepka in and sets up the weekend pairing made in hell.