For the better part of seven months, Bryson DeChambeau has been the target of some of golf’s sharpest criticism. Analysts and former major champions have openly questioned his game after he missed the cut in three straight majors this season, from the Masters to the U.S. Open. Unsurprisingly, that narrative followed him straight to Royal Birkdale as he teed up for the final major.

Even before entering the Open, he faced sharp criticism from the former World No. 1 in an interview with Sky Sports. Sir Nick Faldo dubbed the possibility of a fourth straight missed cut, terming it a “rough slam.” He also went further before a shot was struck, insisting DeChambeau had zero strategy at the Links course. Faldo pointed to an old comment DeChambeau had made about ‘attacking’ it. Moreover, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Faldo isn’t the only one to criticize the LIV Star.

CBS analyst and three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner also joked that DeChambeau would complete his own grand slam of missed cuts, while Brandel Chamblee questioned his focus entirely.

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The circumstances didn’t help his case either. While Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler sharpened their links game at the Genesis Scottish Open, DeChambeau skipped the event altogether and was spotted filming content at Silver Tip Resort in Canada — a course with no relevance to links preparation. What further undermined his case were the series of poor performances at the majors.

Unexpectedly, the two-time U.S. Open champion made an astounding comeback as he opened the week grouped with Scottie Scheffler and Tyrrell Hatton. He wasted no time answering the noise. After teeing up at 9.58 a.m. local time, DeChambeau started with birdies on his first two holes to move to two under. It marked the second time in his major career that he had opened with consecutive birdies. He settled into pars through the middle of the round, staying patient on a firm, sun-baked course that punished anyone who forced the issue.

His best shot of the first day by strokes gained was a 17-foot, 7-inch birdie putt on the second hole. Furthermore, he opened the back nine with a birdie on the 7th hardest hole, the par-4 10th. He briefly made a bogey on the par-3 14th that slowed his momentum, but he responded immediately, draining his fourth birdie of the day at the par-4 16th.

The scorecard underscored how good his ball-striking was. DeChambeau missed 10 of 14 fairways, yet found 15 of 18 greens. That turned out to be 83.3%. And a dozen looked inside 30 feet overall. Later, when he was asked about playing alongside Scheffler, he called it a good gauge of where his own game stood.

“It was fun playing with Scottie, seeing how good he strikes the ball. That’s something I’ve wanted to play with him for a while now. Seeing how he struck the ball today was beautiful. Makes me think, ‘Oh, man, I’ve got to work on my driving and 3-wood a little bit better’ because I hit it farther than him, but it sometimes doesn’t go straight,” he said.

When a reporter circled back to Faldo’s criticism, DeChambeau didn’t name him but described his round as incredibly strategic—a tone that left little doubt he was responding to the Englishman. He is no stranger to answering critics either. Fans may recall the outrage following his move to LIV Golf, which prompted questions about his commitment to competitive golf. DeChambeau answered by securing his second U.S. Open title in 2024. His latest response, both in performance and post-round reaction, carried that theme.

“I think you’ve got to be a lot more strategic out on the golf course. I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic and focused super hard in placing it in the right places,“ he said.

At the time of reporting, DeChambeau had followed his opening 67 with a 66 on Friday. The round was bogey-free apart from one lone slip at the par-4 fifth. He made birdies at the fourth and ninth to turn in one under 33 for the front nine. He then caught fire on the back nine, adding birdies at the 11th and closing with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th to card a second straight 33 coming in. The 66 pushed him to seven under for the championship through 36 holes, comfortably inside the cut line and firmly in the mix heading into the weekend.

Perhaps Bryson DeChambeau just needed one good weekend to turn the harshest narrative into a favorable one. That said, the stakes go beyond simply making the cut. DeChambeau is a two-time U.S. Open champion, and as a player, he has proven he can win golf’s biggest test when his game lines up. A genuine contention at Royal Birkdale over the weekend could silence the critics.

It would be his first Claret Jug bid that has ever gotten past Round 2. A top finish would also reframe his entire season of missed cuts as a slow build rather than a decline.