The PGA Tour can be a very bland place where bland people win bland tournaments that all blend into each other like one big ball of rolling bland. Just look at Dustin Johnson, one of the best players in the world and surefire Hall of Famer, who won last week and barely pumped his fist after sinking his winning putt.
I mean, holy moly do players like that make the game of golf a boring one to watch at times.
You know who doesn’t make the game boring, for better or worse? Bryson DeChambeau… and he’s exactly what the Tour needs right now.
The bulked-up, protein-shake guzzling 26-year old won his sixth PGA Tour tournament on Sunday, rallying for a 3-stroke win with a final round 7-under 65 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His driving distances continue to be a cheat code on the Tour and this week he shattered one of Tiger Woods’ long-standing records with that driver.
He also annoyed a lot of people over the weekend when he got mad at a CBS cameraman for filming him while he was upset during his third round. He was rightly ripped for that because, duh, you’re playing a sport on TV and it is the job of the broadcast to film you and show what you’re up to – for both the good moments and the bad moments. That’s the job DeChambeau signed up for and in no way did the cameraman do something wrong.
But that’s just it – the game of golf needs a villain, someone who will be a public enemy each weekend and have people rooting for him and against him. It adds more excitement to the tournaments and makes the PGA Tour more fun and less bland, which is fantastic.
How did DeChambeau react to critics after his win on Sunday? He said “I love everyone.”
I mean, how great is that!? That’s perfect villain stuff.
DeChambeau spent the quarantine adding like 30 pounds of muscle and mass and perfected a powerful swing off the tee like we’ve never seen before. 360-yard drives and flip wedges into greens are becoming a very normal thing for DeChambeau. Oh, and his wedge game has been stinky the past three weeks but that hasn’t slowed him down at all. Imagine when he gets that part of his game going?
Look. Out.
The PGA Tour is full of players who won’t show any type of emotion, which makes it hard to build a connection as a fan for any of the players. Golf is at its best when Tiger Woods is going nuts over a meaningful putt, it makes things much more exciting. That’s exactly what DeChambeau did after sinking a huge birdie putt on the 16th hole on Sunday. That’s what the game needs!
Do you have to like DeChambeau? No, you totally don’t and I get it if that’s the way you feel. But come on, what he’s bringing into each event he plays in is so damn entertaining and different from any other player on Tour.
I just gotta wonder what he’ll do to Augusta National in November. That could be epic… but it will definitely be entertaining.
The weekend’s biggest winner: Illegal fireworks.
These videos of fireworks being shot off in Los Angeles on the 4th of July are wild. I mean, the residents of my home city weren’t messing around Saturday night. At all. These views from a news helicopter are incredible.
Quick hits: Why Belichick is gonna love Cam… Jorge Masvidal steps into UFC 251 main event… Honest thoughts on baseball’s return… And more.
– Cam Newton and Bill Belichick are going to get along just fine, as this story shows.
– Jorge Masvidal has a chance to become an absolute legend at UFC 251.
– Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle shared some honest thoughts on bringing baseball back during a pandemic.
– Redskins coach Ron Rivera says it would be ‘awesome’ if team name changes before new season.
– Check out Paul Pogba’s haircut honoring the Black Lives Matter movement.