Sir Nick Faldo has insisted he has plenty of respect for Bryson DeChambeau despite the apparent war or words they’ve engaged in at The Open. Sir Nick recently criticised the LIV Golf star for what he has considered to be a lack of strategy in the past.
These comments appeared to rock the 32-year-old as he refused to speak to any print or television media at Royal Birkdale. He did, however, speak to the R&A in-house media team, where he had many thinly veiled digs at Faldo. DeChambeau, after hitting a solid round of 67 on Thursday, repeatedly used the world “strategy” or “strategic” as he assessed his own display in a not so subtle dig at the Brit. Speaking again on Friday, Faldo praised DeChambeau’s display, despite his previous criticism.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Faldo said: “You’ve seen over the last couple of years, he’s gone full blast way too much and I commented on that. I know Bryson really well, respect him and all that.
“We love him, the entertainment he gives. It was interesting how he came back at me, ‘I threw in more strategy today’ here, there and everywhere and he’s played a really nice round.
“That’s the only way to play Birkdale right now, you’ve got to think twice on the tee, you’ve got to thread it in there, get the right kick off the side slope, feed it out there into the correct areas.
“The fact you’ve got two or three clubs more, so what? It’s so important to be in-play. That’s just a poor shot, sure, he can go for that, that’s not him being silly, you don’t just blast away to cut every corner.”
After his promising round of three-under, which placed him in with a firm chance of competing for the Claret Jug, DeChambeau, in his digs at Faldo, said: “I think you’ve got to be a lot more strategic out on the golf course.
“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.”
Faldo was drawn into a group with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and LIV colleague Tyrell Hatton.