Bryson DeChambeau has taken the “Rocket Science” approach to re-inventing his golf game so it made perfect sense that he’d be the man standing in the victory circle at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
It was a year ago when young Matt Wolff stole the 3M title from DeChambeau but Bryson made sure there would be no repeat of that on Sunday afternoon at the Detroit Golf Club.
DeChambeau didn’t waste any time setting the table for his sixth PGA Tour victory. Four front nine birdies catapulted him to the top of the scoreboard while Wolff tripped and fell out of the blocks, starting his day with a bogey that cut his lead from three to a single shot after Bryson birdied the opening hole.
The first nine was frustration for Wolff and laser-like focus for DeChambeau, who started three back. Wolff, who hadn’t had a top 10 since his win at the 3M last season, looked visibly nervous and the result was three bogeys over his first six holes while DeChambeau fashioned four birdies over his first seven. It was that front nine 32 from DeChambeau that got him to 20-under at the turn and set the stage for a back-nine march to victory.
Another birdie at the 10th for DeChambeau and another bogey on the same hole for Wolff put the virtual handwriting on the wall.
Wolff did his best to bounce back and he did, with birdies at 12, 13, 15 and 17. A sloppy bogey by DeChambeau at the 14th gave Wolff a momentary glimmer of hope but the bulked-up bomber that DeChambeau has become, slammed the door with three straight birdies to close it out. He shot 65, the day’s low round and left Wolff thinking about what might have been.
It was a day of redemption for DeChambeau, who was frustrated on Saturday and took it out on a television camera man who was showing DeChambeau throwing a tantrum in a sand trap a-la Sergio Garcia. DeChambeau got in the cameraman’s face, complained and whined and gave himself a bad look. Over the final 18, DeChambeau’s putter erased that frustration and he was able to capitalize on those monstrous drives that he now hits. He leads the Tour in driving distance. He averaged 350 on the measured holes for the week.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said DeChambeau after he thanked everyone he could think of including all his sponsors. The man known as “the mad scientist” for his science-technology-engineering and math approach to the game, wants people to like him because he does take a different approach to the game.
“I want people to see another playing side of the game,” he explained. “I hope everyone appreciates the hard work I’ve put in.”
That work has showed over the first four events since the PGA Tour’s re-start, as Bryson finished in the top eight in every event, but his putting kept him out of the winner’s circle. “There were so many putts that went in,” he said, after watching his putter work well over the final 18. “I was able to make three birdies coming in to win.”
That hard work also added 35 pounds to his body frame and that extra muscle has him hitting drives that are hard to imagine. At the 18th, he bombed one 367 yards and left himself just 95 yards to the hole. A wedge to three feet punctuated his day’s effort as he shot 65 — lowest score in the field. In the end, he was 23-under and three clear of solo runner-up Wolff, who took positives from the loss.
“I’m really taking a lot of positives out of today,” he said after shooting a disappointing 71, his worst effort of the week. “I’m not looking at any negatives this week. At the start of the day, I was letting shots affect me more than the rest of the week.”
As for DeChambeau and his over-powering distance off the tee, he has inserted himself into the conversation for the three major championships to come.
When you can stripe it 370, golf becomes a different game and DeChambeau is certainly a different kind of player.
One Comment
baxter cepeda
A win for Bryson 350.0.
Another Big win for the anchored Kuch style putter.
When Brysons final bomb on 18 Sunday came to rest in the 370s range, his ball was just 10 yards longer than the next two longest drives on the hole. That’s not much. Sure driving longer and better than everyone is an advantage, but it’s not much help alone.
The real separator for Bryson was coupling those #1 off the tee stats with #1 putting, thanks in large part to the Kuch style method, which takes guys from zero to hero on the greens in less time than it took Bryson to gain 30 pounds to hit those Bombs.
Bryson is to be appreciated, but at the end of the day a lot of his success only show the holes in the rules regarding equipment, most notably driver and these long putters.
Both club issues bring up a ton of ‘good for the game’ questions.
Sure putting and driving are still very hard but not for the elite. In fact they have become too easy. But Before considering bifurcation, consider all These amazing new generations of drivers coming out do not help Joe Blow very much at all.
Most weekend warriors can probably hit the first generation of 460 cc heads as long as today’s drivers. The new stuff really helps elite players, especially the bombers. If drivers are dialed down, Bryson would feel it the most while Joe Blow would barely notice, if mr. Blow can even afford the new stuff.
Even more than the need to dial down drivers somehow, is the painful reality that The anchored putting rule needs to correct this forearm loophole. I said at the time of the anchor rule change that everyone in pro golf with putting issues would switch to Kuch style and be very successful. And Here we are.
As with new drivers, these forearm putters help top players a lot more than Joe Blow, who is probably not fitted correctly to begin with. Most weekend warriors stink with anchored putters as much as Regular style, but clearly Top players can use their resources to easily take advantage of the Kuch loophole to not only make up ground on the greens but even have an advantage putting.
Back to the distance issue.
For me Brysons new body and his increased temperament, seem linked. Sure he has always had a shortish fuse, but now we see it in a more bullish way in how he treated the camera guy.
I’m not suggesting he is taking banned substances but maybe all those protein shakes, super intense workouts, not to mention golf and other duties are just too much for golfs brand.
Bryson is concerned about how his brand is portrayed but should we be concerned how Bryson affects golfs brand?
I will say it:
His whole look is a bit off putting. I miss the old Bryson.
Not everyone in golf will follow Bryson 350.0 or Kuch putting style. But the boys making the rules need to ask themselves if they want to end up with a bunch of moody, overworked bodybuilders using a crutch in the putting rules to overtake this sport.
I sure don’t.