The Open Championship at Sandwich in Kent is into the second round but much of the news coverage around the world has focused on what Bryson DeChambeau said after his one over par round rather than what any of the golfers did on the course.

His approach to the game is different to most and based on attention to detail and the physics of his own body and his clubs.

He is paid millions by club manufacturer Cobra to use and promote their brand of driver.

That was not what they had in mind when he said that the reason for his not playing great is that his main weapon, that Cobra driver “sucks”.

They have been on board since he turned professional and the relationship is close enough that the Cobra Tour Operations Manager Ben Schoomin stepped in as a late replacement caddy for the Rocket Mortgage Classic on the PGA Tour last month.

When a journalist from USA Today contacted him for a reaction then, he was probably expecting little more than an audio shrug of the shoulder and soothing words about how both sides will work together to fix whatever he feels may be wrong.

Instead, though he got just a little bit more with Schoomin striking back with the power and accuracy that was a match for what DeChambeau feels has been absent from the club.

“It’s just really, really painful when Bryson says something that stupid,” he said.

“He has never really been happy, ever. It’s like an eight-year-old that gets mad at you. They might fly off the handle and say, ‘I hate you.’ But then you go. ‘Whoa, no you don’t.”

“We know as adults that they really don’t mean that and I know that if I got Bryson cornered right now and said, ‘What the hell did you say that for?’ he would say that he was mad. He didn’t really mean to say it that harshly. He knows how much everyone bends over backwards for him, but it’s still not cool.”

“Everybody is looking for a magic bullet. Well, the magic bullet becomes harder and harder to find the faster you swing and the lower your loft gets.”

DeChambeau’s social feed is all about the sponsors and he did apologise last night in Instagram, admitting it was deeply unprofessional and saying that the team at Cobra were ‘like family to me.’

For a golfer who is still proud to list Trump Golf as one of his partners, you feel that introspection and reflection are perhaps not really part of the 27-year-old’s make-up.

In a year where we have seen substantial episodes of players kicking back against sponsor commitments, this is one that has gone in the other direction…

 

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