Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau bitten by Royal St. George’s

SANDWICH, England – While red numbers weren’t rare during the opening to The 149th Open, Royal St. George’s still claimed some big names with U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm and big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau among those to struggle. RELATED: Leaderboard | Jon Rahm leads the list of links specialists | Club foot reason for Jon Rahm’s TOUR-winning short swing Rahm and DeChambeau battled away to 1-over 71s on Thursday morning, a distant seven shots adrift of early pace-setter Louis Oosthuizen. Spaniard Rahm was the pre-tournament favorite after his impressive victory at Torrey Pines last month, but he lost his way on the ninth hole when he failed to escape from a fairway bunker on the first attempt and made a double bogey. Playing with Oosthuizen, Rahm felt like his wheels were spinning despite making plenty of grinding pars, until a final hole birdie gave him something to smile about. DeChambeau couldn’t get his radar adjusted off the tee. He managed four birdies on the round but hit the same number of fairways in regulation meaning he was hamstrung by five bogeys. “The driver sucks. It’s not a good face for me and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the miss-hits. I’m living on the razor’s edge,” DeChambeau bemoaned post round. “It’s quite finicky for me because it’s a golf course that’s pretty short, and so when I hit driver and it doesn’t go in the fairway, it’s first cut or it’s in the hay, it’s tough for me to get it out on to the green and control that… I couldn’t control my wedges.” They weren’t alone when it came to tough starts. PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson found himself quickly behind the eight-ball at three-over through six holes while Jason Day shot a 5-over 40 on the front nine. Lee Westwood, a sentimental favorite for many in his home country, also shot 71 as did defending Open champion Shane Lowry.

Click here to read the full article…