ORLANDO, Fla. Bryson DeChambeau enjoyed the opportunity to try and ride the green at Bay Hill Club’s sixth hole par 5 and celebrated as if he did it on Saturday during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The ride from DeChambeau, which cut across a large lake, eventually ended up 50 meters to the right of the green, but traveled 370 meters and rolled through the highway and into the rough. The hole is 555 meters, and no player in the field has hit his shot near the green.
Finally, he strikes a wedge shot from the rough to the front of the green and then twice to put down an easy birdie of about 35 feet.
“I definitely felt like a kid again. It was exciting,” DeChambeau said after a 68 left him one stroke behind 54-hole leader Lee Westwood. “Especially when you put it down. It was almost like winning a tournament. I got the same chills and feeling when I saw it clearly and there was no splash. I gave the fans what they wanted.”
DeChambeau, the reigning US Open champion whose well-known diet and fitness regime has put on muscle and more than 40 kilograms over the past 18 months, has emerged as the leading rider of the PGA Tour. Last year, he led by averaging more than 322 yards per ride.
In order to reach the tee of the tee on Saturday, DeChambeau said he would have to carry his ride 335 yards, which he did. He scrambled away to go directly to the green due to the wind.
DeChambeau made some efforts during the pro-am Wednesday that fell short due to the wind. This prompted him to follow a more conservative route during the first two rounds and provoke some playful evil. He filled the hole in two of the three rounds.
The encouragement from the spectators who were behind the tea spurred DeChambeau, he said.
“For the most part, it’s a shot I know I can do, and I was able to do it,” he said. ‘I would have done it without the fans, but the fans definitely demanded me a little and it was fun to give them what they wanted. ‘