Bryson DeChambeau keeps his points in his book for his PGA Tour. When he took out the book on Sunday on the 16th hole, there were seven points left at the bottom. Whoever sews that textbook has a little work to do on Monday morning.
DeChambeau shot 71 on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2021 to finish at 11 under and beat Lee Westwood by a stroke for the eighth win in DeChambeau’s PGA Tour career (third in his last 15 starts worldwide). He did so with power and finesse – just like during the US Open at Winged Foot in September last year – and once again lit a field that played a solid, fast track with long rough.
All the attention (with good reason!) Will be given to Bryson’s plays on the par-5 6th. He drove it back up to within 100 yards of the 565-foot hole by cutting off a large portion of the lake on the left-hand hole. Again he made bird. This is instructive. Although DeChambeau has certainly fared well in other areas of his game over the past week – you can not perform poorly in it and win solely with your manager – he has picked up almost 60% of his 12 shots on the field with the big stick. (almost two (!) of those with what he did on Saturday and Sunday at number 6 alone).
This is remarkable. With DeChambeau’s power play, he can find space elsewhere. While a Jordan Spieth or even a Westwood should perform well with putter or wedge play, Bryson can make a few mistakes and get away with it and still win golf tournaments.
The whole thing is also an absolute show. The driver of DeChambeau who is currently pumping on a given hole is similar to the fact when Manny Ramirez walked to court at Fenway Park in his prime. The power and skill are outrageous, and the theater is almost as wild. There’s also a hint of “I’m not quite sure how it’s going to play out here.” Fighting DeChambeau is one of the most entertaining people in professional sports (not golf, sports).
Also, do not let her 12 pars that come to birds at number 6 mislead you. Bay Hill played to an average of 75.4 on Sunday. Pars got you moving on the leaderboard (not down), and DeChambeau made a lot of it with a combination of driven drives and big holes at the right time.
The story of Bryson’s transformation over the past five years into a top five player in the world is twofold. The first is that his unmatched power offers him opportunities – from outside the kick-off and in the rough – not to have to be perfect in other parts of his game. The other thing is that he wins a lot because the other parts of his game are good (he was 9th in iron play and top 30 in short play).
Eight times at the PGA Tour in this era (including a U.S. Open) is an embarrassment of wealth. Continuing this for an indefinite time in the future is no guarantee, but his style and his clear (sometimes manic!) Striving to be the best in the world is reason to believe nothing about what has happened over the past year not – 14 top 10s, including three wins since the start of 2020 – will wear out in the near future. In fact, Bryson is in the future. And he destroys in the present. Grade: A +
Here are the rest of our degrees for the Arnold Palmer invitation.
Jordan Spieth (T4): He’s back. I said it, so let me repeat it. He’s back. I do not care about the result or what happened Sunday. I care a lot that Round 4 on Bay Hill was the 13th time in his last 16 rounded rounds that he was positive in shots he got on close shots. There has to be work with the driver, and the putter will come and go, but he will argue all the time if the iron game is great, and it’s been world class for a month now. It matters a lot at the PGA Tour, and there’s enough reason for optimism if he can lead the rest of the thing in a watery place like Bay Hill. Grade: A
Rory McIlroy (T10): After a huge hole on Thursday, it felt like Rory was going to lighten up this tournament and this golf course. But some deadly game with his irons over the next three days pushed him off the leaderboard, and he was finally completely taken out of it when he put two in the water from the tea on Sunday (before hitting the biggest 7 on Sunday). made) all times thereafter). There’s another level in Rory’s game that he just hasn’t reached yet, and that was clear when he lost 2.5 shots on his approach shots on Saturday when he had to move. The encouraging part for him is that he may reach a Masters high in April, but that he clearly is not shooting on all cylinders (for him!) With another month before the big season begins. Grade: B-
Viktor Hovland (T50): The Norwegian finished his run of four consecutive top-six finishes after losing eight (!!) shots on the field in the past two days. Looking ahead to The Players may be a good thing. Hovland played excellently in his first round last year, but his chances will be longer than a few days ago due to the bad weekend at Bay Hill. Believe in the tea-to-green contest with him at TPC Sawgrass! Grade: C