Boom-or-bust Bryson DeChambeau seeking answers after disastrous start at PGA Championship 2026

DeChambeau has never been one to hide his emotions on the course. When it's going well, he rides that wave of positivity to astounding heights, feeding off crowds that he actively works into frenzies. However, on days like Thursday, he seems to spiral as things go wrong, digging himself deeper and deeper into a pit of despair.

There's perhaps no worse event to have that tendency than a PGA Championship, where rounds drag on close to 5.5 hours, and you're forced to sit with your thoughts regularly between shots. After his fifth bogey of the day on the 7th hole (his 16th after starting on No. 10), DeChambeau was forced to endure a 10-minute wait for the green to clear on the 241-yard par 3.

While Ludvig Åberg, Rickie Fowler and their caddies chatted and snacked, trying to pass the time, DeChambeau stewed off to the side, chomping away on a beef stick before grabbing a club to rehearse some swings, desperate to find something before his round ended.

Once it was finally his turn, DeChambeau blew another long iron short and right. As the ball fluttered weakly in the air, getting knocked ever shorter and further right by the wind, he berated himself over whether it was possible to miss right any more often.

Still steaming, DeChambeau hammered his chip shot over the green, bounding into the rough on the other side. More muttering. More gesturing at the ground. He hurried across the green, seemingly desperate for this nightmare to end, and proceeded to fluff a chip that came up short and rolled back down towards his feet.

DeChambeau eventually got up and down for double bogey, gesturing again in frustration towards where he flubbed a chip. As his playing partners finished up, he hustled through the tunnel off the 8th green, which precedes a lengthy and awkward walk to the 9th tee at Aronimink.

As bizarre as the setup is from No. 8 to No. 9, cutting across the 11th and 17th tees to get to the new back tee, it's a walk he made at least once in his practice rounds. But mind still racing, a discombobulated DeChambeau quickly emerged back through the tunnel to the adjacent 10th green, asking if he had gone the wrong way as some of us cut across to the 9th fairway.

It was almost too on the nose that DeChambeau, who spent his day figuratively lost on the course, would end it getting quite literally lost while trying to find his final tee box.

Once he got there, he finally put together a complete hole, hitting the fairway off the tee, launching a 3 wood onto the 609-yard par 5 in two and then making a stress-free two-putt for his first birdie of the round. It was a solid end to an otherwise disastrous day, and after a quick stop at the scoring tent, DeChambeau made a beeline to the range.

The first club he pulled was the same iron he hit on the 8th tee, and he began hammering away, explaining to his coach that he felt he was pulling out and to the left, causing him to be late with the club and miss to the right.

Bodine wandered off and returned with snacks, settling in for the long haul as DeChambeau's search for answers begins anew.