Bryson DeChambeau, a golfer on the LIV Tour, played his first round of the PGA Championship on Thursday at Oak Hill and shot a 4-under 66 to take the early lead.
DeChambeau acknowledges that he has questioned whether days like these will ever happen again at various points throughout the past year and beyond. The huge weight gain that was done on purpose had a negative impact on my health. His hip and hand both sustained wounds. the contentious switch to LIV Golf, the later-abandoned PGA Tour lawsuit, and yet another eating regimen.
DeChambeau taking the lead in a major used to not be a surprise, but that was three years ago. DeChambeau put an end to the jokes and avoided the side glances directed at his crazy scientist approach when he won the U.S. Open in 2020 while posing as a massive monster. He may be a touch unusual, as evidenced by the way he puffs himself before each drive, but results speak for themselves, particularly a U.S. Open triumph.
In a way, we ought to have foreseen this. DeChambeau apologized to Donald Ross, the architect of Oak Hill, for destroying Detroit Golf Club at the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic (despite the fact that Ross died in 1948).
Additionally, Winged Foot, where DeChambeau won the US Open in a manner that prompted concerns about the direction golf was taking 메이저사이트 and left the sport at large in a state of bewildered resignation, has been a frequent comparison made by players to Oak Hill this week.
His name being near the top of the scoreboard is important. DeChambeau continued to attack the ball quickly and powerfully off the tee and out of the rough. He shot a 4-under 66 as a result, taking the lead among those who completed a first round that was delayed by frost by nearly two hours.
Due to nightfall, thirty players were required to return on Friday morning. Among them was Eric Cole, a 34-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour, who was 5 under with four holes remaining.
“It’s a fantastic round of golf at Oak Hill,” DeChambeau said. “It’s a prestigious place, very difficult golf course. As I was looking at it throughout the week, I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t know how shooting under par is even possible out here on some of the holes.’ But luckily, I was able to play some really good golf.”
DeChambeau appeared to be on the right track after taking home four PGA Tour victories in 2018, but he later developed an interest in finding ways to improve his ball-striking distance.
He engaged in a rigorous weight-training and weight-gain regimen that helped him become the PGA Tour’s longest driver. He won the 2020 U.S. Open and followed it up with a well-received triumph at the Arnold Palmer Invitational the following year. He also had a number of other near calls, including a back-nine lead at the 2021 U.S. Open and a playoff defeat to Patrick Cantlay at the BMW Championship.
In terms of DeChambeau, he essentially disappeared from the top of golf during the past year.
Early in 2022, while playing ping pong in Saudi Arabia, he had a hip injury that he attributed to slipping on marble tile. After the Masters the previous year, he underwent surgery on his left wrist. Then he switched to LIV, where his tie for fifth place in Oklahoma last week was his only top 10 finish out of six competitions this year.
“The emotions have definitely fluctuated pretty high and pretty low, thinking I have something and it fails and going back and forth. It’s humbling,” DeChambeau said. “Golf, and life, always has a good way to kicking you on your you-know-what when you’re on your high horse.
There wasn’t much golf played throughout all of that. His seventh-place showing at the LIV Golf Tulsa competition last week was his best in 12 competitions. And his best performance since tying for seventh at the British Open at St. Andrews last summer.
“He played great,” said Keegan Bradley, who played with DeChambeau and shot 68. “It looked like Bryson to me. He hit the ball great, putted great, drove 토토 it really nice. It was good to see him. He was smashing drives again, and he played pretty much flawless golf. Happy for him.”
DeChambeau made 15 of 18 greens and nine of 14 fairways. He only had two bogeys and finished first in the field for strokes gained off the tee and strokes gained from tee to green. For a man who appears to have been lost in the golf wilderness for a very long time, it was a fairly good performance.