FORT WORTH, Texas — The PGA Tour’s first day back in the spotlight after a three-month, pandemic-induced break brought a number of familiar faces to the screen, but some of the physiques weren’t necessarily recognizable.
The biggest rumblings during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge concerned a bulked up Bryson DeChambeau, who’s been so forthcoming about his workout routines he often displays them online.
DeChambeau looked more linebacker than linksman as he crushed the ball to the tune of a 345.5-yard average off the tee. To put that stat into perspective, consider this — “The Scientist” came into this week as the PGA Tour’s longest driver for the interrupted 2020 season. But on Thursday at Colonial Country Club, DeChambeau was 23 yards ahead of his own Tour-leading average. And that’s on a course not known for playing nice with long hitters.
DeChambeau talked briefly about his new frame after shooting a 65.
“Yeah, well, I’ve upped about 20 pounds. It doesn’t mean I’m going to hit it farther, but I’ve done a lot of speed training to attain these new ball speeds,” he said. “When I was out here I was attaining ball speeds of 193, 195 on certain holes, and quite honestly I can’t use it out here. There’s only a couple holes I can use it, No. 11 and No. 1 and No. 2 really.”
His playing partners on the day, Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson, certainly took notice. For example, on the par-5 11th hole, DeChambeau outdrove the normally long Johnson by 55 yards.
Rose, who finished top the leaderboard after a round of 63, said he instantly noticed the change in DeChambeau.
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“I saw a massive difference. One, in his physique for sure. I mean, he’s huge. I played with Dustin Johnson — I’m not small, but at 6’3″ and 190 (pounds), I kind of felt pretty small out on the golf course today,” Rose said. “You can tell the practice swings are very intentional. He’s looking for speed. He’s obviously trained speed. But the other elements of his game still look in control. So it looks like he’s definitely added a couple of weapons for sure.”
Rose used the first hole as a shining example of the difference in power between DeChambeau and his two playing mates.
“I think No. 1 today is probably the best measure. I hit a good tee shot. I’m probably like low 170s ball speed, 71, 72, 73 possibly, but when I hit it well, I’ve got good spin and good launch and I carry it 300 (yards), and I probably got it out there 320 down No. 1 today, and I was 40 behind Bryson,” Rose said. “It’s a pretty significant difference for sure. Like DJ was kind of in-between me and Bryson really. Pretty unique — yeah, it’s definitely different.”
While DeChambeau bulked up, others took a few pounds off during the lull. Gary Woodland told reporters he lost 25 pounds during the intermission and he certainly looked spry in posting a 30 on the front. The Topeka, Kansas, native was even on the back nine and finished with a 65, good enough to be tied for seventh heading into Friday’s second round.
Woodland said he rarely gets an extended break to concentrate on his body and took full advantage of the 91 days off.
“We don’t get a big off-season. We usually only have a couple weeks off, and at the end of the season, I want to go on vacation and want to do something fun. For me obviously, we couldn’t go anywhere, couldn’t do anything, so I stayed home, I trained hard, changed the diet a little bit, and I lost a lot of weight” Woodland said. “But we’ll have a big stretch coming up, a lot of big golf tournaments. I’m playing 10 of the next 13 weeks, and obviously got majors, hopefully Ryder Cup, a lot of stuff coming up at the end of the year. I wanted to get my body in a position where I could play a lot more and play a lot better.”
I’m calling it……less round! https://t.co/Y3SkW26z8e
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) June 9, 2020
Another player who looked like he made fitness a priority during the hiatus was Graeme McDowell, who showed off a trimmer look.
After Tuesday’s opening round, he responded to a tweet, saying he’s not svelte, but “less round.”
McDowell posted bogeys on two of the first four holes on Thursday, but rallied to shoot a 69.
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