DUBLIN, Ohio – Tiger Woods had a front row seat for The Big Show for the first time Wednesday as he played a 9-hole practice round with Bryson DeChambeau at Muirfield Village Golf Club ahead of the start of the Memorial.
Woods wasn’t bowled over by the prodigious display of power.
“He didn’t really step on any today,” Woods said. “He hit a couple good ones but nothing that he stepped on because the front nine doesn’t really allow it.”
Tough crowd, Woods is. Or perhaps he was looking away when DeChambeau unleashed the Kraken on the fifth hole – that’s what he calls his power-thrust move in a nod to the mythical sea monster – and found his ball 365 yards away in the rough. Or when he stepped on one on the sixth and found the fairway with a 360-yard missile that was 50 yards past Woods’ pure fairway splitter.
While Woods downplayed his reaction, DeChambeau has staggered the golf world with his outlandish power since he added 50 pounds of mass, found the perfect blend of strength and equipment, and increased his ball speed into the 200 mph range. The 5.5-degree driver isn’t his only weapon – he can effortlessly hit his 8-iron 190 yards, his 5-iron 235 and his 4-iron hybrid 275. He hasn’t hit more than an 8-iron into a green on a par-4 for some time, he said.
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In Woods’ absence – the 15-time major winner is playing for the first time since mid-February – DeChambeau has become the Tour’s gigantic headliner. In four starts since the Tour returned after a 13-week, COVID-induced break, he’s gone T-3, T-8, T-3 and won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in his most recent start.
“Length will always be an advantage in golf. Even if some of these people that are talking about changing equipment or changing the ball, the longest are still going to be the longest, and the longest are still going to have an advantage,” world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said. “What he’s doing is very impressive. More power to him. He’s making golf interesting, and he’s certainly getting people to talk about him.”
Now the world No. 7 DeChambeau gets his toughest test. He’ll have to step up his game as the Memorial has nine of the top-10 and 18 of the top-20 players in the world in the field. And the course features gnarly, thick rough; firm greens; quick fairways; and rows of dense trees.
DeChambeau said bring it on. Plus, he’s won here before – in 2018 – though that was some 50-60 pounds ago.
“It’s definitely a challenge no matter how you look at it with this added length, and I appreciate it, and look forward to using it to my advantage hopefully a few times this week,” said DeChambeau, who has seven consecutive top-10s. “I feel really good about my game. Ball-striking is there, wedging is getting a lot better, iron play is getting a lot better. I just feel overall more comfortable this week and hope that that translates. You never know, it may or may not translate, but that’s the game of golf. That’s the beauty of it.
“I’m going to have a lot more wedges in than I have previously had, so my iron play and wedge play needs to be on point, and the greens are firm. That’s going to be the most difficult challenge this week is really gauging how the greens are bouncing in and how I can control that spin on the greens.”
As for breaking out Kraken, he said he could on holes 7, 11 and 13. And maybe the 463-yard 17th, although a creek 440 yards from the tee could come into play. Yes, 440 yards. The hole plays downhill, and if it’s downwind, DeChambeau might be forced to hold back because of the creek.
While he’s risen to the challenges posed on the golf course, DeChambeau’s embracing his emergence as the talk of the game, even with some of the chatter on the critical side. That includes becoming the latest Poster Boy for critics calling for the golf ball to be rolled back by the sport’s governing powers.
“From my perspective, anything negative that comes my way now, I try and look at it in a positive light,” DeChambeau said. “I try and view it as a compliment, in a sense. When Tiger was doing his stuff and dominating, I’m sure there were times when people were criticizing him on certain things.
“I’m going to play my game, try and win as many golf tournaments as I can, give myself chances to win golf tournaments, and not focus on the negativity that people are trying to bring to me. I’m just going to do my absolute best to play my game and enjoy the benefits of what comes about from playing your best.”
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