The Surprising PGA Tour Pro Outdriving LIV Golf's Bryson DeChambeau At The Open

The first round at the Open Championship was full of interesting storylines, including Daniel Brown posting a sensational six-under-par to take a surprise lead and a disappointing day for LIV Golf epitomised by Bryson DeChambeau's less than encouraging start.

Royal Troon certainly bared its teeth, as did the famous 'Postage Stamp' 8th hole, but players certainly endeavoured to fight back with a display of big hitting from the tee.

To be honest, I am often surprised when anyone hits the ball further than Bryson, mainly because that's sort of his thing, but I was even more taken back to see this particular name at the top of the rankings for driving distance after round one at the Open...

The Surprising Pro Outdriving Bryson DeChambeau At The Open

When you pair a difficult golf course with tricky conditions, you don't often expect to see players smashing monster drives. Well, that's exactly what we were treated to on day one at Royal Troon, with a total of six tee shots recorded at over 380 yards!

The longest drive of the day went to Bryson DeChambeau, as you might expect, who sent a 405 yard drive out into the atmosphere at the iconic Open venue. While that was the longest drive of the day, it wasn't the US Open Champion who came out on top in the average driving distance category...

That accolade went to Max Homa, recording an average of 348.6 yards. The World No.15 does have some previous history of sending bombs down the fairway, after breaking the PGA Tour longest drive record at the Sentry, with a shot that measured a phenomenal 477 yards.

That effort came at Kapalua, a test which often sees many of the top pros eclipse their driving distance averages by some way, so I think it's fair to say Max Homa isn't considered one of the longest on tour.

So you can understand my shock when in inclement conditions, under Major Championship pressure, and despite ranking 55th for driving distance this season, Max Homa still crushed it.

Bryson DeChambeau appears second in the rankings, recording an average of 343.8 yards, while home-favourite Bob MacIntyre, obviously buoyed by the adoring crowds, came in third with 337.7 yards.

Rory McIlroy can be found wallowing in 14th position on the list, after a poor opening round performance, while Rickie Fowler found himself propping up the field at rock bottom of the standings with an average of 223.2 yards.

That's over 126 yards behind Homa, and almost 50 yards behind 1995 Champion Golfer of The Year John Daly, so it's not hard to understand why Fowler will struggle to make the weekend. 

With players opting to use an array of different options available to them in tough conditions this week, some are choosing to pull driver on the tee more often than others.

In round one, 2022 Open Champion Cam Smith led the field for the highest usage (9 out of 15 tee shots), while Dan Brown, Kazuma Kobori and Dominic Clemons all came in joint-second on the list (8/15).

Astonishingly, big-hitting Tony Finau actually hit the joint-least number of drivers on Thursday, utilising the club just twice in a pretty forgettable round for the six-time PGA Tour winner.