Nick Faldo does not grace our television sets as often as he used to, but that is not going to stop him from absolutely firing off some takes when he gets the opportunity.

The six-time major champion appeared on the Sky Sports Golf Podcast hosted by Jamie Weir on Monday at Royal Birkdale, and the topic of Bryson DeChambeau—and his relationship with links golf—naturally came up. DeChambeau’s links golf career got off to a rather inauspicious start, as he posted just one top 10 in his first seven tries at the Open and missed the cut three times.

The two-time U.S. Open champion was on his way to a fourth Open MC last year at Royal Portrush, where he shot a first-round 78. In benign conditions, though, he fought his way all the way back to finish T-10 thanks to rounds of 65, 68 and 64. As soft as Portrush played on the weekend, it was still commendable, and it locked up his third top 10 in a major in 2025.

This year, though, DeChambeau is not just 0-for-3 in top 10s at the majors, he hasn’t even made the weekend at one. At Royal Birkdale, he’s going for the wrong kind of slam.

“That’s got to be a rough slam, isn’t it?” Faldo said on the Sky Sports podcast. “We’ve got to name it.”

Turns out, Faldo was just beginning to cook. Weir asked him what’s happened to DeChambeau at the majors in 2026, and Sir Nick did not hold back.

“He has—I’d say it to his face—he has zero clue of strategy. I mean, you don’t — he said it last year, I think on TV, he said ‘I’m going to go out an attack the links.’ Well, I’ve never ‘attacked’ a links,” said Faldo, who won three Claret Jugs.

“You thread it, don’t you? You feed it down the fairway, it’s really important. You look at humps and bumps and think, if I send it over and feed it, it nudges back into play. You don’t think ‘oh, I’ll just bomb it down there, can’t see where I’m going, it’s 20 yards wide.’ Oh, yeah, good luck.”

Some might see this is classic Faldo jibberish, but this is a guy who made the cut in his first 23 Open Championship appearances. He even posted a pair of top 11 finishes in 2003 and 2005 when he was in his mid-to-late 40s. He might know what he’s talking about when it comes to links golf.

Good news for DeChambeau is he has a prime opportunity to prove everyone, Faldo included, very wrong this week at Royal Birkdale.

 

MORE GOLF DIGEST OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP COVERAGE

Everything you need to know about this year’s major at Royal Birkdale

The Open Championship is not called “The British”

Here’s the record payout for each golfer at Royal Birkdale

After hitting the opening tee shot at the U.S. Open, James Nicholas qualifies

Here’s everybody in the field (so far) at Royal Birkdale

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Andy Buchanan