The reinvention of DeChambeau
The LIV Golf star morphs into a fan favorite and a serial major contender
DeChambeau tips his cap to the crowds on 18 (Matt Hahn/USGA)
Bryson DeChambeau’s image has undergone a transformation almost as significant as his body.
There he was Friday afternoon at Pinehurst, hamming it up on the Sky Sports broadcast with Nick Faldo, sitting for a lengthy chat with NBC’s Smylie Kaufman, re-posting video of his second round at the U.S. Open and generally relishing the role of fan favorite.
It’s a long way removed from the heckling he once endured at tour events, all the vitriol associated with his move to LIV Golf, the lawsuit he was part of against the PGA Tour (since dropped) and the general negativity that still envelopes the game in many places.
Good golf helps.
Exciting golf helps more.
And DeChambeau — who the other day went through his bag and said a stock 8-iron shot goes 205 yards — delivers.
For the third straight major championship, he is in contention. DeChambeau added a second-round 69 to his first-round 67 and was the clubhouse leader for a good part of the afternoon.
He ended the day a shot behind Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, with whom he’ll be paired in the final group on Saturday.
The guy who tied for sixth at the Masters and finished second last month to Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship has given himself a chance to win a second U.S. Open.
Beefed-up Bryson — the incredible bulk — is no more. He trimmed down after the prolific weight gain of a few years ago, realizing his bulk was in many ways unhealthy. But the slimmed-down DeChambeau still packs a wallop and he didn’t abandon the speed and brawn that saw him become one of the longest drivers in the game.
He ranks in the top six of all of the tournament’s driving statistics.
And in perhaps a way that only DeChambeau could describe, he explained his resurgence over the past year.
“The equipment that I have. The combination,” DeChambeau said. “I've got LA Golf shafts. I've got a Crank driver in the driver head, and some amazing irons that work well for me and a putter that I've trusted since 2018. It's a lot of the equipment that's really helped give me get that confidence back.
“I can’t t tell you how important it is to have stuff that works for you, for anyone out there listening,” he added. “It's possibly the most important thing to have done to yourself if you're trying to improve your game, especially at an elite level. I can play with a junior set on YouTube, but it is never going to be the same as having your own golf clubs where you can control the shots day in and day out.
“It’s really good equipment, and as I’ve said before in other press conferences, it’s me getting a little bit older and realizing there’s more to life than just golf, and when I’m out here, appreciating the time that I have out here, and hopefully continuing that fun that I can showcase to others.
DeChambeau also overcame a potentially disastrous situation during the opening round when he left his yardage book in the courtesy vehicle that took players to the 10th, which is a lengthy hike from the clubhouse.
Not realizing it until he was already at the tee, DeChambeau said his caddie, Greg Bodine, also carries a yardage book. But he wanted his own, too, and tournament personnel tracked it down and eventually got it to him on the course.
There’s nothing quite like another distraction, but DeChambeau took it in stride as he attempts to win a second major championship.
DeChambeau, 30, won the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, which came with a five-year exemption into the other majors and 10 years in this tournament. He was the only player to finish under par and he won by six shots.
It seemed easy then, as DeChambeau was in the midst of his weight-gaining, stomach-stuffing mode.
But after winning the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2021, spending the summer answering the endless questions about a feud (with Brooks Koepka) that now seems quaint and contending a few more times the rest of that year — while missing the Olympics due to COVID-19 — DeChambeau fell into difficulty early in 2022.
He suffered hip and wrist injuries and was never healthy throughout the rest of the season. His move to LIV Golf came with his name as part of a lawsuit (since dropped) against the PGA Tour. It was a complicated and stressful time, not bad easier by his languishing game.
But last year he began to emerge from his funk. He contended at the PGA Championship won by Koepka, won twice with LIV, including shooting a final-round 58 at the Greenbrier event.
This year, DeChambeau has four top-10 finishes on LIV Golf without a victory, all coming prior to the Masters. Since then, he was 26th in Adelaide and 27th in Singapore as well as 18th last week in Houston.
Of course, he contended last month at the PGA Championship, playing in the second-to-last group with Viktor Hovland and making a final-hole birdie at Valhalla that forced Xander Schauffele to birdie the hole on top of him to win by a shot.
DeChambeau has now been inside the top 10 at a major in nine of his last 10 rounds and this is the first time he’s had consecutive under-par rounds at a U.S. Open since he contended at Torrey Pines in 2021.
“If I can get everything going together, kind of like I did yesterday, I felt pretty solid with the putter, putts just probably didn't go in the way they could have,’’ DeChambeau said. “But if I get both those components — driving, iron play, putting down, even chipping around the greens — yeah, you're going to play really good golf, obviously.
“My focus is on the next shot at hand. I'm not really focused on the total strokes gained for the most part, just trying to execute the best shot I can every single time under the conditions because it's going to be different. This golf course is not going to be the same come tomorrow and the next day, and I'm expecting that. Us competitors, players, have to adjust to those conditions accordingly.
“Look, I'm excited for the game that I have right now. I feel pretty confident and ready to get after it this weekend.”