Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy Implode On Day One Of The Open Championship

Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy finished one-two, respectively, at the U.S. Open just a month ago and were among the favorites to contend for the Claret Jug at this week's Open Championship at Royal Troon. By Thursday afternoon, however, before the afternoon wave of players had even teed off, both may have already played themselves out of the tournament.

Things weren't bad, they were downright awful, for both McIlroy and DeChambeau during round one.

DeChambeau began his day by three-putting the opening hole from 35 feet, which was just a preview of what was to come for the two-time major winner. 

Three-over through four holes is never where you want to be, but just when it seemed things couldn't possibly get worse, DeChambeu pulled his teeshot on the sixth hole well left before hitting his second shot a whopping four yards according to The Open's shot tracker.

Yes, four yards.

After making a couple of lengthy putts to keep his round somewhat on the rails, he missed a nine-footer to save bogey on the sixth and walked away with a double bogey, and made the turn at 6-over.

While he carded a 5-over 76 to put himself well down the leaderboard, there were two highlights from his round. The 30-year-old drained a 54-footer for eagle on the Par 5 16th to make things a bit more respectable, and then stepped to the 18th tee and hit a drive 405 yards. 

If DeChambeau had a bad day at Troon, McIlroy had a terrible one, but all of his damage came on the back nine, unlike his counterpart.

McIlroy was cruising along just fine at even par through seven holes, but then fell victim to the famous short Par 3 8th hole. While he avoided hitting his teeshot into the deadly coffin bunker guarding the left side of the green, he found a bunker right of the green and was unable to get his first attempt out of the trap before carding his first of two double bogeys of the day.

McIlroy's other double came on the Par 4 11th, the most-difficult hole at Troon, after he blocked his tee shot right of the train tracks guarding the out-of-bounds line.

There is absolutely nothing one can salvage from McIlroy's first-round 78 as it was undoubtedly the worst 18 holes he has played in 2024, and that includes his second-round 77 at the Masters back in April.

McIlroy and DeChambeau combined to hit just 41% of their greens in regulation, which is a number you simply can't have if you want to put together anything close to a respectable round at an Open Championship. Combine that with struggles off the tee, and it's easy to see how the pair posted 12-over par on the day.