Bryson DeChambeau told media blackout at The Open "not in the spirit of the game"

Bryson DeChambeau's decision not to speak to the media after the first round of The Open is "not in the spirit of the game", according to Sky Sports' Wayne 'Radar' Riley. 

DeChambeau came into the final men's major of the year having missed cuts at The Masters, US PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. 

The two-time major champion, 32, came under heavy criticism before a ball was struck at Royal Birkdale, with three-time Claret Jug winner Sir Nick Faldo claiming the American had "zero clue" when it came to strategy.

Former PGA Tour pro turned Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee twisted the knife further by claiming DeChambeau was more interested beating YouTube golfer Grant Horvat than Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. 

DeChambeau answered his critics and then some by opening his account at the 2026 Open with a three-under 67. 

He decided not to speak to reporters afterwards, only offering a few words to a set of pre-approved questions to an R&A official. 

DeChambeau took a clear swipe at Faldo, 68, in those comments but his decision not to speak to the assembled media has been heavily debated over the last 24 hours. 

Some suggest it's a matter of DeChambeau wishing to have control, whilst others believe he has been targeted unfairly by the press.

Sky Sports' on-course commentator Riley said that DeChambeau's behaviour was "not in the spirt of the game". 

"He goes and plays a tour which not a lot of people watch," Riley said, referencing the LIV Golf League. 

"That's just honest. The PGA Tour's very, very big. 

"But you can't come to these major championships, in my mind, and sit back and say 'I'm not going to talk to you, I'm not going to talk to you, I'm not going to talk to you.'

"It's a duty. He said that he wants to give the fans something to cheer about. The fans want to see him being interviewed.

"You've got to talk to the media. You just have to do it because that's just what the game is. 

"You can't walk away and go 'No, no, I'm not doing that.' It's just not in the spirit of the game, in my opinion."

Ex-Ryder Cup captain defends DeChambeau

During a segment of Live from The Open on Golf Channel, former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley decided to defend DeChambeau. 

McGinley said DeChambeau does have strategy and emphasised that Faldo is a player from an entirely different era. 

"Nick was a massive strategist, and how he played was very coy, and it was threading himself through these bunkers," he said.

"He's a three-time Open champion. This guy knows how to play links golf.

"But you jump forward to this modern game, and at the very, very top of this modern game style of bombing the ball off the tee, you find Bryson DeChambeau.

"So it's not apples with apples in how he sees the game compared to how Nick saw it in the day.

"So the strategy that he has is very much around wrestling this golf course to its knees by using the biggest armoury that he has, which is the driver, and that is a strategy in itself.

"And we saw that, the good effect, as well today on 10, when he almost drove the green. 

"He's the only guy who actually drove it kind of pin high and had a knock in birdie there.

"So his strategy is a lot more cavalier, but because the rough is down this week, and there's not huge amounts of gorse out there, he can get away with that.

"We saw him win at Pinehurst in very firm conditions. So let's not dismiss Bryson.

"Let's put him as a very, very different player than, you know, the brilliance of Nick Faldo in his day."

McGinley also issued a word of caution to DeChambeau as the golfer played round one of The Open with fairly benign conditions. 

"There was hardly a whimper of wind out there," he said.

"So when he was coming from the rough, he was coming on to pretty soft greens relative to what they became a little bit more in the afternoon when the wind got up.

"So, the jury is still out. Can he navigate four days through this? 

"Can he consistently get lucky by eight, nine times hitting it into the rough and still having shots onto the greens? 

"Is he going to crash and burn at some stage with this strategy that he has? That's the question."