The last time we saw distance-obsessed, 44-shooting, Kyle Berkshire-admiring, UFO-sighting, Brooks Koepka-tormenting Bryson DeChambeau, he was once again letting Brooks Koepka get the best of him, this time at the just-finished Travelers.
With Koepka on vacation — his way of preparing for the Open Championship — Bryson is in Detroit preparing to defend at the Rocket Mortgage, where he found the Detroit Golf Club totally to his liking last year when he shot a final round 65 for a whopping 23-under par winning score, three better than young Matt Wolff and five ahead of third place Kevin Kisner.
Evidently the TPC River Highlands was too short for Bryson. It measured only 6,800 yards for The Travelers yet Bryson could only manage to shoot seven-under, which left him tied for 19th, three shots back of his afore-mentioned nemesis — Mr. Koepka — who closed with a 65 last Sunday and tied for fifth at 10-under.
It’s not exactly a field piled high with big names up in Motor City. But there are guys you’ll recognize — Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama, sand-swiping Patrick Reed, bad-back healing Jason Day, final-nine floundering Bubba Watson, PGA champion Phil Mickelson, father-to-be and Rocket Mortgage ambassador Rickie Fowler as well as Wolff, runnerup to Bryson and back in action after some mental health time away from the rigors of the PGA Tour.
For a lot of big names, the Travelers was the final U.S. tune-up prior to the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s, which is just 15 days away.
Which brings us back to Detroit and a significant announcement by the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour will stop onsite COVID-19 testing beginning at next month’s 3M Open, which will be played the week after the Open Championship, July 22-25.
The Sheriff Of Nottingham (aka Tour Commish Jay Monahan), had one of his underlings dash off a memo/email to the players that read in part:
“Due to the high rate of vaccination among all constituents on [the] PGA Tour as well as other positively trending factors across the country, testing for COVID-19 will no longer be required as a condition of competition beginning with the 3M Open.”
Testing won’t end entirely. There will still be onsite testing for players, caddies or officials who are symptomatic. Positive tests will still require quarantine time per CDC guidelines and if it is a player, they would have to withdraw from the tournament.
The Tour still plans to limit access to the weekly “bubble” to players and significant others through the Tour Championship.
