How Social Media Reacted To DeChambeau's "Driver Sucks" Comment

DeChambeau's comments were a major talking point from day one at The Open

How Social Media Reacted To DeChambeaus Driver Sucks Comment

DeChambeau's comments were a major talking point from day one at The Open

How Social Media Reacted To DeChambeau's "Driver Sucks" Comment

It was one of the big questions coming into The 149th Open: would Bryson DeChambeau's "bomb and gouge" strategy pay dividends over a links layout.

Well, one round in and the answer is a resounding no. But wait. It wasn't his fault.

That's right, after a wild display off the tee resulted in the big-hitting American finding just four of 14 fairways, DeChambeau decided it was his equipment to blame, stating "the driver sucks" in his post-round interview.

The only positive to come from the day for the 27-year-old was that he managed to salvage a one-over 71 that has him seven behind overnight leader Louis Oosthuizen and by no means out of it.

As you can imagine, social media was quick to react and here are some of the best of them:

Here is the moment DeChambeau delivered the one-liner that sparked a riposte from his own equipment manufacturer:

Upon hearing this, Golfweek's David Dusek was able to get a response from Cobra's Tour Operations Manager Ben Schomin who fired back, saying: "Everybody is bending over backwards. We've got multiple guys in R&D who are CAD'ing this and CAD'ing that, trying to get this and that into the pipeline faster.

"Bryson knows it. It's just really, really painful when he says something that stupid... it's like an 8-year-old that gets mad at you. They might fly off the handle and say, 'I hate you'.

"We know as adults that they really don't mean that and I know that if I got him cornered right now and said, 'What the hell did you say that for', he would say he was mad and didn't mean to say it that harshly."

It appears that Schomin, who caddied for 'the Golfing Scientist' at the Rocket Mortgage Classic after long-time bagman Tim Tucker decided he'd had enough on the eve of the tournament, was right, as DeChambeau issued an apology as night fell in the UK.

Here it is:

A photo posted by on

DeChambeau will be hoping his driver sucks a lot less today as he looks to vault himself into contention heading into the weekend at the year's final major.

He gets underway in round two at 2.26pm local time alongside Branden Grace and Jordan Spieth.

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Andrew Wright
Freelance News Writer

A lifelong golf fan, Andy graduated in 2019 with a degree in Sports Journalism and got his first role in the industry as the Instruction Editor for National Club Golfer. From there, he decided to go freelance and now covers a variety of topics for Golf Monthly. 

Andy took up the game at the age of seven and even harboured ambitions of a career in the professional ranks for a spell. That didn’t pan out, but he still enjoys his weekend golf at Royal Troon and holds a scratch handicap. As a side note, he's made five holes-in-one and could quite possibly be Retief Goosen’s biggest fan.

As well as the above, some of Andy's work has featured on websites such as goal.com, dailyrecord.co.uk, and theopen.com.

What's in Andy's bag?

Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub-Zero (9°)

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°)

Driving iron: Titleist U500 (17°)

Irons: Mizuno mp32 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°, 54° and 58°)

Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2.5

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x