It was a chilly, rainy weekend at Augusta National recently, but Bryson DeChambeau embraced the conditions, hardly bothered by any such nuisance.
He visited the home of the Masters, excited to test out some new equipment, especially a driver that he believes is a difference-maker and one that helped him shoot 58 last year at LIV Golf League event.
And he used the reconnaissance mission as a way to renew his quest for major championships.
After two years of tumult, including injuries and all the drama that has surrounded his move to LIV Golf, DeChambeau is focused on more than just the season that begins Friday at the Mayakoba Resort in Mexico.
He’s got an eye on the major championships, specifically the Masters, where somewhat surprisingly DeChambeau has never finished better than his tie for 21st with low amateur honors in 2016.
“It was about getting comfortable with the equipment that I have at the golf course,” DeChambeau says of his early January two-day visit. “And seeing the nuances. The different changes. I personally love Augusta. I’ve got great respect for Augusta. I know how difficult it is.
“I’ve never had my ‘A’ game there beside the first few rounds at Augusta in 2016. Not really even had my ‘B-plus’ game to be honest. At times I’ve had my ‘B’ game. I shot 6 under there the first round in 2019. I led. There have been times.”
And yet he’s not contended. Not even in 2020, when he was coming off an impressive six-shot victory at the U.S. Open played at Winged Foot.
That was when the majors were delayed to the coronavirus pandemic. After winning at brutal Winged Foot as the only player to finish under par, expectations were immense a few weeks later at Augusta National.
DeChambeau was at the height of his weight-gaining, ball-crushing power and even noted that Augusta National with its reachable par-5s was more like a par-67 for him.
“Everybody gives me crap about that,” he says without hesitation. “I’ll forever have that. I own it.”
DeChambeau never sniffed 67. He was out of sorts for most of the tournament, a third-round 69 his best score. In the final round, playing with two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer, who was 63 at the time, DeChambeau was hitting it more than 100 yards past the PGA Tour Champions player.
And yet, Langer beat him, 71–73, as DeChambeau tied for 34th. In six appearances at the Masters as pro, he’s never cracked the top 20.
Bulking up and the beef with Brooks
Despite the Masters setback, DeChambeau was crushing the ball and still gaining confidence. From the fall of 2019 when he went on a weight-gaining and muscle-building binge, DeChambeau had gained some 50 pounds and was hitting tee shots more than 20 yards longer.
He worked with Greg Roskopf, who was a trainer with the NFL’s Denver Broncos, who explained that the process was three years in the making. Now 30, DeChambeau says he maxed out at 240 pounds. He was around 190 pounds when he started and said he was consuming more than 4,000 calories per day.
“It was a lot of fun because I didn’t care,” says DeChambeau about being able to eat virtually whatever he wanted. “And then you realize you have to care because it starts to bite you in the butt.”
DeChambeau won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in the spring of 2021, famously attempting to drive over water as close as possible to a par-5 green on both weekend days and outlasting Lee Westwood down the stretch. The following week, he contended at the Players Championship, tying for third.
But there was considerable noise that surrounded him. Remember the “feud” with Brooks Koepka? It seems quaint now, but that was a weekly point of discussion in those days. “We have a level of respect now that we didn’t then,” DeChambeau says.
“I think it’s kind of funny,” Koepka says now. “I didn’t care to get to know him. He’s obviously very different than I am. But sometimes when you’re so different you find you are actually more alike than you think. He’s really just a nice kid who means well. … I had fun with it. I enjoy trolling, getting trolled.”
Both players being part of LIV Golf has helped change their relationship. There’s more of a bond in a world that has seen them heavily criticized for their decisions.
But Koepka said things began to thaw prior to the 2021 Ryder Cup. “I said I was willing to play with him,” Koepka says. “He was open to it as well. I don’t want to say they were afraid to do it, but if it’s best for the team, I was good.
“People think it’s a bigger deal than it is. We were on the same team and wanting to figure it out. There are plenty of people who you might not necessarily get along with perfectly but you still figure out a way to get it done.”
‘I’ve got to stop’: Slimming down and moving to LIV
DeChambeau continued to face obstacles in 2021. He had a split with his caddie just before the British Open. He was highly critical of his equipment company and endorser at the same tournament. He tested positive for COVID-19, thus missing the Olympics. He had a couple of top-10s in the FedEx Cup playoffs, including an excruciating playoff loss to Patrick Cantlay.
And the weight gain and all that came with it was starting to bother him into 2022.
“I couldn’t breathe very well. I couldn’t sleep very well,” he says. “This is just not healthy for my body. I had a blood test which showed three times the risk of a heart attack. And I was like ‘I’ve got to stop, I’ve got to change, I’ve got to pivot.’ So I pivoted. I got some more blood tests done. I figured out what was inflaming me. I got a chef that started cooking food relative to my sensitivities and I started decreasing my inflammation and started going in a super positive direction. It wasn’t through drugs or any prescriptions. It was literally through food.”
It couldn’t prevent injuries that derailed him in 2022. DeChambeau had a hip problem as well as a wrist injury that had nothing to do with his weight gain but nonetheless was extremely painful, causing bad habits in his golf swing and eventually leading to surgery.
Around that time is when the LIV Golf rumors began to circulate, and DeChambeau admitted—much like Koepka—that he wondered about his future in the game.
“It was right after the Masters,” says DeChambeau, where he missed the cut in 2022. “I knew I was going to have hand surgery. Knew I was going to be out eight weeks. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play golf the same way. Going in and doing surgery, you just don’t know. You can come out and my wrist just isn’t the same anymore. I’m not swinging the same. I was very nervous. I had a great doctor. Dr. Graham. Who has done work with Michelle Wie and numerous athletes. But I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
DeChambeau might have returned too quickly, playing at the Memorial where he missed the cut. He tied for 56th at the U.S. Open. And then he joined LIV Golf. Although he managed a tie for eighth at the British Open at St. Andrews, DeChambeau did little on LIV for the rest of the year.
He gained some confidence with a tie for fourth finish last year at the PGA Championship—where Koepka won—but said the real change occurred with his driver, one he put in play just prior to shooting 58 at the Greenbrier.
“The big turning point was when I got that Krank driver (Krank Formula Fire LD) the week before Greenbrier,” he says. “My whole game changed since then. But playing golf, being able to compete at a high level, was the PGA Championship for sure.
“I’ve gone to a (club) face that’s a lot slower. And I still have the 195 to 199 ball speed. If I had a driver that close to the limit, I could be close to 200 mph ball speed right now. But I don’t need that.”
Early plotting for Augusta
DeChambeau has plenty going on right now with a new season starting. His Crushers LIV team won the league’s team championship last year as he won twice, at both the Greenbrier and in Chicago.
And he’s been heavily involved in the inner-workings of LIV, pushing the team concept but also acknowledging that the game needs to come together. He’s suggested on more than one occasion that he believes a deal between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia—which funds LIV Golf—is imminent.
But he’s also looking ahead to a return to form in the majors. For all his success in the game, DeChambeau has just four top 10s in majors. He’s not been a final-day contender since his U.S. Open win four years ago.
Hence, that early-year visit to Augusta National. DeChambeau said he played 27 holes over two days. He avoided a big group of members by heading out to survey several greens on his second day to get a better understanding of the holes.
He said his caddie, Greg Bodine, is a secret weapon whom he wanted to get familiar with him and his game around Augusta.
“The first day was cold, a bit rainy,” he says. “We played in the rain in super soft conditions. The next day was cold and windy but sunny. I got to see a different beast. I really wanted to see a lot of wind on Amen Corner. It was a north wind. And trying to come up with a good game plan there. It did play long. It felt like it was 8,000 yards. It was super soft. The greens were closer (to tournament speed than you’d expect. They were in very good condition.”
DeChambeau admits he has to get past his “par is 67 comment” and start posting some better scores at the home of the Masters. Still more than eight weeks away, and yet …
“People will talk about that all the time. Which is O.K.,” he says. “It’s a second-shot golf course. But you have to be able to put it in play. And I haven’t been able to put it in play like I know I can. So I feel like this driver has opened a lot of doors for me at this golf course.
“Doesn’t mean I’m going to play well. You still have to putt and chip and iron play it well. But I feel like it’s another huge tool in my tool box to get myself a great chance to win.”
