ORLANDO, Fla. Bryson DeChambeau gave the fans what they wanted on Saturday.
On Sunday, he gave himself what he wanted: a cherished victory at the tournament named after one of his sons idols, Arnold Palmer.
In the cold, windy, difficult weather conditions on Bay Hill for the final round of the Arnold Palmer invitation, 27-year-old DeChambeau beat 47-year-old Englishman Lee Westwood by one shot in an exciting nine of the match. play.
DeChambeau shot one of just three subpar rounds among the 72 players on Sunday – a final round 1 under 71 – and finished 11 under track record of Westwood’s ten-under.
But it was the way DeChambeau won that not only satisfied him the most, but also opened the eyes of his observers to the fact that he is not just an up-and-coming gym gear that moves the ball further. beat like anyone in the game.
No.
DeChambeau excels just as much in the little things that win golf tournaments as hitting blows that take your breath away – like when he bombed his tee shot across the big lake on the sixth hole par-5 on Saturday and threw his arms like he just hit a hammer and then said that he “gave fans what they wanted.”
DeChambeau is like a baseball who hits more home runs than the next man, but also a skilled bunter who moves the runners when he has to.
He is a contemporary Babe Ruth who also plays small ball.
In short: DeChambeau does not achieve his eighth victory in the PGA Tour without achieving the parks he did with his beautiful short game and the clutch he did when he had to make Sunday.
‘You can not only make it far here on the PGA Tour [and win], ” Said DeChambeau.
Of course, he has more up-to-date tools in his arsenal than Westwood, who has been trying to win his first PGA Tour in more than a decade. This can not be denied. The length of DeChambeau was an advantage – which even Westwood described as a defeat as ‘great to watch’.
But if you analyze how DeChambeau won, it was not about him far surpassing Westwood. It was about his complete game, the elements that the casual observer overlooks.
Sure, chicks dig the long ball. But they also like winners. And DeChambeau became the first multiple winner of the PGA Tour on Sunday.
Take the 72nd hole as Exhibit A, why it was not necessarily the length of DeChambeau, but the only difference.
His ride at 18 is 303 meters. Westwood’s walked 291 meters.
Westwood, who probably needed birdie to force a playoff with one stroke back, dropped his 159-yard approach from a distance of 65 feet from the flag. DeChambeau’s approach shot came to a halt 43 feet from the flag.
Westwood left himself 6 feet, 8 inches for his track record. DeChambeau has himself 5 feet, 5 inches for par. Westwood made his must-do, and DeChambeau had to make his for the win.
He has.
“I think it’s a very underrated aspect of my game,” DeChambeau said of his pit.
On a one-shot lead on the 11th hole, DeChambeau drained a 50-foot par-rescue chair and maintained his lead. Op nr. 12 Westwood buried a 28-foot birdie to tie DeChambeau at 11 under.
They remained tied at 11 under until Westwood cut on the par-3 14th, missed his first hole 11 feet short and missed the par-save and DeChambeau gave back his lead with one stroke, which he would never give up. .
In fact, Dechambeau did not crack all day after hitting an awful starting shot at no. 1 hit and scrambled. That would be the first and only spot on his scorecard all day.
You do not do this simply by hitting the ball further than your opponent. You do this by doing everything better, by working out the competition, a mantra by DeChambeau, who honed past the dark on the track on Saturday night.
This is an element that attracted Tiger Woods to DeChambeau. That’s why DeChambeau received an encouraging text message Sunday morning from Woods, who is still in the hospital and recovering from the serious injuries he sustained in a February 23 car wreck.
“When I got the text, I was like, ‘Wow, it’s quite surprising that he’s thinking of me when he’s in his difficult times that he’s going through now,” DeChambeau said. ‘This red vest [given to the winner in honor of Palmer] is not just for Mr. Palmer, but I would say that it is also a bit for Tiger to know in what place he is currently. ‘