Any questions?
Any questions as to who’s the best — right now?
Any question as to who has a strangle-hold on the FedEx Cup points race?
As if that isn’t a big enough boost for DeChambeau, as expected, he was named a captain’s pick for the 2018 U.S. Ryder Cup team late Tuesday afternoon along with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
DeChambeau has been the Doomsday Swinging Machine the past two weeks and on Monday, he made it two-for-two in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The kid they call The Mad Scientist has dazzled the golf world the past 14 days, crushing the competition, and he did that again to celebrate Labor Day in Boston.
Sure, tiny Abraham Ancer held the 54-hole lead at the Dell, but did anyone honestly think he’d pull out the win with DeChambeau a shot back and staring at him all day at the TPC Boston?
Sure, there was a contest for a while. Five front nine birdies made it pretty clear that DeChambeau was the most determined man on the course. Young Cameron Smith tried to make a run at him but that didn’t last long and a miracle birdie at 18 got Justin Rose within two. But that’s about it. After that front nine 31 got him to 16-under par, the writing was on the wall, or should we say, the equation was on the chalk board.
Last week DeChambeau talked about consistency after talking the Northern Trust. And that word came up quickly, again, in Boston.
“Well, consistency, obviously,” said DeChambeau, stating the obvious. Man this guy is the definition of the word.
“I’ve been trying to get that week-in and week-out,” he said after getting his point total to 5,,617. That put him 2,328 points ahead of Dustin Johnson — DeChambeau probably did that math in his head.
He was No. 1 in the points parade coming into this week and will be No. 1 heading to East Lake. As far as the $10 million is concerned, Bryson controls his own destiny, no matter how he plays at Aronimink this week.
The man with the Hogan cap also used the “E” word — as in “executing.” He was damn good at that the past two weeks and it was a summer repeat at TPC Boston.
“If I keep doing that — I’m gonna be hard to beat,” he said without hesitation.
Highlight of his week was the 63 he threw at Tiger Woods on Sunday in the third round. To Bryson’s delight, he was paired with the man he admits is his golfing idol.
“That was fun,” he said of that 63. It wasn’t as much fun for Woods, who shot 68 then looked out of sorts in the final round on his way to a 71 and a tie for 24th that kept him treading water in the points standings at No. 25. He’ll have to do better this week in Philly to stay in the top 30.
There’s no heat on DeChambeau, although he has appeared oblivious to the pressure in these playoffs. At one point early Monday, there were a dozen guys within two shots of him.
Didn’t matter, he was unflappable.
The past two weeks have taken all the guess-work away from Jim Furyk.
Furyk will announce three of his captain’s picks late Tuesday afternoon.
DeChambeau will be one of them, Woods and Phil Mickelson will be the other two.
Number 12 will be saved for next week and another good showing could lock that up for Tony Finau, who tied for fourth.
Finau’s been so very consistent.
Hey, wait a minute, that’s DeChambeau’s calling card.
Yeah, consistency.
Two wins proves it. Beyond a doubt.
Editor’s Update: Thomas Bjorn made his four captain’s picks early Wednesday morning and went totally with veterans: Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson. He has five first-timers among the automatic qualifiers so he turned to experience for his picks.
4 Comments
baxter cepeda
Does this officially change everything yet? Certainly gonna be some more people buying one length sets and searching the internet for those old golf books which in part inspired Bryson’s style.
Copycats beware. Beware that what makes Bryson successful is not only the clubs and the system. Its more about the the resilience, belief, commitment to what he does.
There truly are a lot of ways to swing and it truly seems more inportant to stay the course with what you do than continue seeking more fundamentally sound ways, according to others. What is funny is many people starting golf naturally want to do a lot of what Bryson does, but somebody is always there to tell them thats not the way. Fortunately Bryson is way to stubborn for that.
Bryson is also very fiery and must disagree he is oblivious to pressure, hence the “frustration” he felt on the range, saying “c’mon guys” to the reporters calling it a breakdown or meltdown. But the guy clealry puts as much ptessure on himself as anyone. Bryson felt the pressure on that ramge because he knew he was close. While fire does hurt players as much as it helps, it clearly has helped Bryson.
Bryson also disputed those who believe he is more talented than an innovator. He is both.
If golfers are going to follow Brysons way, they really should be aware his success is not as simple as one plane and one length. Its about heart baby, and bryson has it in spades. In that way nothing changes.
Tom Edrington
Baxter: Ever tried reading “The Golfing Machine”? I have……unsuccessfully, I wasn’t the best at physics and math.
baxter cepeda
Familiar with it, hence the reference in my previous post, but have not read The Golfing Machine. Waiting for you to sell it.
What it teminds me of is a long time ago I bought an infomercial video where the teacher, dalton McCrary teaches how to hit a 7 iron as “straight as you can point”.
McCrary Basically says to take it straight back, then stand the shaft, and basically cast it. Bes big on saying “one and roll” to yourself to create rhythm and tempo. I never stuck with his system but i still remember a 7 iron range session decades ago where you could put a table cloth over all my shots.
Again, theres a lot of ways to play.
Tom Edrington
Yes, and DeChambeau has injected science into it in a way most of us cannot understand…..was laughing at the look on Nance and Faldo’s faces when Bryson started talking the physics part of it in front of them….