One Day After Ripping Driver, Bryson DeChambeau Says He 'Feels Really Bad About It'

DeChambeau shot an even-par 70 in Round 2 to make the cut, but questions remain about his confidence with his gear.

SANDWICH, England — Forgive and forget. That is what Bryson DeChambeau hopes will happen after his misplaced tantrum about his Cobra driver after a first-round 71 at the Open Championship.

The 1-over-par number wasn’t so bad until you saw that almost one-third of the field was under-par, putting the 2020 U.S. Open champion is a pickle.

“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now, the driver sucks,” DeChambeau said afterward in what quickly became a viral quote.

Cobra quickly responded.

“He has never really been happy, ever. Like, it’s very rare where he’s happy,” Cobra tour operations manager Ben Schomin told Golfweek. “Everybody is looking for a magic bullet. Well, the magic bullet becomes harder and harder to find the faster you swing and the lower your loft gets.”

DeChambeau issued a mea culpa Thursday evening. But like most things swirling around DeChambeau, it won’t die easily.

After a second-round 70, which was enough to earn him a weekend tee time, DeChambeau wanted to walk away without talking to the media, but a phone call from someone who presumably has DeChambeau’s ear suggested he talk to the media, and he did.

“I made a mistake and I think as time goes on, I’ll look back on this as a growing moment for me personally and hopefully I can make the right things go on from here on out in regards to that cause, didn’t mean it,” DeChambeau said. “I was in a heated situation and feel really bad about it.”

Understanding where his bread is buttered, DeChambeau sent an apology to Cobra and said his relationship with his clubmaker was fine.

“It’s one of those things that in the moment we have been working for a long time,” DeChambeau said. “Four years on driver and just still haven’t had the exact one that makes it work for me at 195 mph ball speed and we’re still working on it, and I know we will get there. It’s just going to take some time and yesterday I wasn’t driving it particularly well and it got the best of me, unfortunately.”

While this may settle down the media with two rounds to go in the 149th Open Championship, there are questions that still need to be answered.

1. Why put a club in your bag you seem to hate?

2. Why would Cobra put a club in his bag they know he hates?

DeChambeau tried to explain it away with some jargon about smash numbers and the like, but in the end, if the club doesn’t preform as he wants it to preform, why not just put it on the sidelines and go with a 3-wood, or something else?

Those questions will wait for another day.

More Day 2 British Open Coverage from Morning Read:

- Oosthuizen Leads, Morikawa and Spieth Lurk Through Two Rounds at British Open
- One Day After Ripping His Equipment, Bryson DeChambeau Says He 'Feels Really Bad About It'
- Could a Brit Finally Win a British Open? Several Contenders Have a Shot
- Morikawa Takes Run at Open Scoring Record, Shoots 64 to Surge Into Contention
- From Challenge Tour to British Open, Marcel Siem Plays Way into Contention
- Amateur Mattias Schmid Etches Name in Open Lore With Second-Round 65
- Will Zalatoris WD From Open, One Day After Painful Shot Out of Deep Rough
- Bryson DeChambeau Rips Gear, Says Driver 'Sucks' After Uneven Opening Round