“DeChambeau faces historic challenge after difficult start at the Masters.”

Bryson DeChambeau faces an almost impossible task at the 2026 Masters following a disastrous debut at Augusta National. With 54 holes still to play, the two-time U.S. Open champion saw his chances of winning the coveted green jacket severely compromised after a tournament start that approaches the historic — but for all the wrong reasons.

In the first round, DeChambeau recorded a score of 4 over par, totaling 76 strokes, which left him nine shots behind leaders Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns, who started with impressive rounds of 67. The fateful moment occurred on the last hole of the day, the 18th, where the American failed to recover after an error on the left side of the green, compromising his round with a bogey. This performance puts him in a precarious situation, as no Masters winner since 1982 has triumphed after starting the tournament with a score over 75. Craig Stadler is the only one to have achieved this feat, but even he had to fight through a playoff to secure the victory.

“I will accept what the golf course gives me,” admitted DeChambeau after the round. “I need to improve my iron game. I pushed the ball left several times today. I did a great job on 18, the wind didn’t interfere as much as I thought it would, and that’s how this game goes. The golf course can surprise you, and today I couldn’t control my irons, which is strange because they were working well before this tournament.”

DeChambeau is not alone on the list of favorites who started poorly. Patrick Cantlay and Sungjae Im also finished their first round at 4 over par or worse, underscoring just how tight the competition is for those looking to win at Augusta this year. Recent Masters history shows that starting with a high score almost always means saying goodbye to victory aspirations — since Danny Willett triumphed in 2016, no champion has begun the tournament with more than 72 strokes in the first round.

On the other hand, leaders McIlroy and Burns, along with names like Scottie Scheffler, who won in 2024 with a brilliant debut of 66, show that consistency from the start can be decisive. DeChambeau still has the chance to recover, but the task is Herculean: overcoming a nine-stroke deficit on one of the most challenging courses in the world is something that Augusta National rarely allows.

The second round of DeChambeau will be watched with eagle eyes. The American will need to be aggressive, precise, and relentless to keep his hopes of wearing the green on Sunday alive. If not, this Masters could become another historical example of the difficulties in turning a game around when the start went so poorly. Stay tuned, because the real battle is just beginning.

This article first appeared on Apito Final.