Bryson DeChambeau triples No. 11, cards 76 to open Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Amen Corner put Bryson DeChambeau through the wringer again.

DeChambeau needed three shots to exit a greenside bunker on the 11th hole at Augusta National, and he never really recovered from that triple bogey in a first-round 76 at the Masters on Thursday. DeChambeau faces an uphill climb if he’s going to put himself in the position he was in last year — playing in the final group with Rory McIlroy on the final day.

“Just going to give what the golf course gives me,” he said. “I have to try to hit my irons better. I drove it left numerous occasions.”

The worst opening round by a Masters winner was Craig Stadler‘s 75 in 1982.

It was the pond on the 11th hole that did in DeChambeau last year. His shot into the water led to a double bogey, and he couldn’t keep up with McIlroy, who beat Justin Rose in a playoff.

This time, DeChambeau was in the bunker to the right of the green, the opposite side from the water. His first two shots didn’t make it out.

“Bunker was softer than I anticipated,” he said.

That DeChambeau was even in that position was surprising, given that he was sitting pretty in the fairway after his tee shot. His approach went into the bunker after a couple of bounces.

“The ball flew 12 yards farther than I wanted it to,” said DeChambeau, who hit only eight greens in regulation. “I had a good shot.”

DeChambeau had come in hot, winning the past two LIV Golf events. But the 76 on Thursday was his worst round in any event since his first round of the 2025 Open Championship (78); he bounced back there to finish T-10 that week.

Still, even after the nightmare at No. 11 on Thursday, he had seven holes left to make up for it, but he didn’t give himself many opportunities.

He parred the par-3 12th, the second of the three Amen Corner holes, after missing the green. After wayward drives, he didn’t go for the green on either of the remaining par 5s — Nos. 13 and 15. He missed the green from about 65 yards on 13 and about 105 on 15, doing well just to save par on the latter.

His round ended with a three-putt bogey on 16, an approach to 8 feet for a birdie on 17, and then a tee shot into a bunker that led to a bogey on 18.

That won’t cut it if he wants to be a factor this weekend.

“Everybody has an ability for weird things to happen, and today, I just did not have my irons under control, which is weird,” DeChambeau said. “It’s been good coming into it.”

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.