Bryson DeChambeau: Unique American on the Masters, instincts and training regime
- Published
DeChambeau reached a high of fifth in the world rankings in 2019
It is difficult to find sporting equivalents to Bryson DeChambeau, the 28-year-old American who has chosen a truly unique path to the top of his game.
Perhaps Dick Fosbury, the man who revolutionised high jumping, offers the best comparison. The US athlete was out on his own when he decided to fling himself backwards over the bar to win gold at the 1968 Olympics.
Like the man who invented the "Fosbury Flop", DeChambeau does things his own way with radical zeal. Coming from a sport renowned for its sense of conformity, his thinking is so out there you need a telescope to keep up.
Already a major winner, the US Open champion has brought his philosophies and inspirations into sharp focus in a wide-ranging interview with BBC Sport.
DeChambeau, known in golf as 'The Scientist', discusses how his thinking is shaped by the inventor of the electric lightbulb. He reveals the origins of his fierce competitive instincts and discusses the brutal training regime that powers a relentless ongoing quest for improvement.
He also defends his controversial boast that, for him, Augusta National should be regarded as a par-67 course despite failing to contend at last year's Masters when he was the most hyped competitor in the field.
His distinctive approach is the product of lifelong experimentation and curiosity about how the game should be played. The world's eighth ranked golfer references Thomas Edison in his quest to illuminate the path to golfing success.
"The quote is he failed 9,999 times before he found out one way to make a lightbulb work," DeChambeau said.
"I relate to that on a high level because I fail just as many times as that or even more trying to hone in my craft. So I'm OK with failure as long as I can learn from it."
DeChambeau is vowing to keep asking questions of how he can further develop his game, describing it as "a relentless pursuit of excellence".
Outside influences abound and appropriately on Super Bowl weekend, he borrows from the mantra of a legendary NFL coach. "It's a Vince Lombardi quote," De Chambeau stated.
"We will try and obtain perfection, well knowing we can't attain perfection and we'll achieve excellence along the way."
Uniquely, the player uses irons with identical shaft lengths, has a distinctive putting stroke with the club clamped to a straight left arm and famously he generates phenomenal swing and ball speeds with his driver.
These characteristics make him a singular force in professional golf which is the main reason he tops the bill at this week's Saudi Invitational powered by Softbank Investment Advisers on the European Tour.
DeChambeau's desire to try anything to find ways to improve and defy convention was ingrained from an early age.
"Ever since I was young, even my dad told me I couldn't do things," DeChambeau said.
"He told me there's no way the one lengths [his irons] are going to work," he added. "My brother, 12 years older than me, always pushed me in sports.
"He told me 'you're too young, you can't do any of this'. So there was always this nagging, 'you can't do it' sort of interpretation that I've had on life.
"And from that, I gained this high intensity dedication and ever since I was young I've always tried to do my best to figure out a better way to live life."
This includes his continuing quest to swing his driver as fast as possible to generate prodigious driving distances. He regularly blasts tee shots more than 350 yards.
How Bryson changed his body & changed golf
Some of this is undoubtedly down to his recent weight gain as he added more muscle to his frame in an effort to generate more speed and power.
He endures punishing range sessions that he claims leave him near fainting. "I'm getting close and then stopping and saying OK that's good enough, I don't actually want to do that, passing out wouldn't be good," he said.
DeChambeau wants to regularly attain ball speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour while competing on the course. Currently he can only achieve such rapidity during range sessions.
"Nobody knew how to break the four-minute mile," DeChambeau commented. "One person did and then a bunch of other people broke it the rest of that year.
"That's what I'm trying to do with my speed. I'm trying to get to the point where 200 is the number and once I break that I feel I'm going to be able to go even faster pretty quickly with that.
"In these training sessions I put myself through at least an hour and half a day of hitting 150-200 balls as hard as I possibly can, giving myself between five and 10 seconds between each drive.
"And I keep going even when the speeds start dropping, trying to push them back up. You're always trying to push the restrictions that I guess you have in your brain.
"And it's pretty amazing what you can do when you get to about the 125th ball. You start seeing numbers that you've never seen before if you truly are pushing it."
Last September DeChambeau romped to a commanding victory in the US Open at Winged Foot. It made him favourite for the Masters, which had been moved to November because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Texas-based Californian boldly predicted that for him par around the revered Augusta National was a mere 67 shots, rather than the 72 stated on the scorecard.
The golfing gods seemed to wreak revenge. He was off colour all week and struggled to 34th place, 18 shots behind the winner Dustin Johnson and beaten by 63-year-old Bernhard Langer.
Bryson DeChambeau loses ball in triple-bogey seven on third hole
But DeChambeau has no regrets, despite that bloody nose. Indeed, he is doubling down before his return to Augusta in April.
"If I was to play the game that I was supposed to play, I still feel like it was and still is close to a par 67," he said.
"I would say par 68, if I'm really being fair to myself, with reaching the par fives in two and playing them like par fours.
"I just shot six, seven over par every day, that's the way I look at it. I played really bad and I'm OK with that," he reflected.
"It wasn't trying to take down the history of the golf course. It was just about trying to play the best golf I could and that's the way I was viewing it and I feel bad if I hurt anybody's feelings on that."
In 2021 he is confident of more success. His current priority is finding a formula to improve his short game. "Why do I still struggle with controlling the starting lines with my wedges?" he wondered.
His goals are not tournament results specific. He wants regular 200mph ball speed off the tee and top 30 statistics for his short game.
"If they all add up I'm going to do pretty well this year," he said.
"I'm totally focussed on the things that I can control. I can't control what somebody is going to go out and do, if they shoot 30 under par."
DeChambeau has defied the odds with his unique approach and is undoubtedly among the most talented and dedicated golfers in the game. He has the capacity to become the focal point for men's golf in a post Tiger Woods era.
Already in great demand, on and off the course, he loves the status he has earned. "It never stops for me," he smiled. "I'm just trying to do the best I possibly can in life in every aspect."
And that means constantly raising the bar to shine a light on potential means of improvement. Furthermore, he remains boldly unafraid of saying it.
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