How Bryson DeChambeau Reinvented Himself

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

I have in the past had plenty to say about Bryson DeChambeau, and very little of it has been complimentary. 

I don’t pretend to understand the logic behind his decision to use a bag full of irons that are all the same length. I thought that his decision to put on all that bulk in order to hit the ball further served only to put his health at risk. His strange swing leaves me cold. And his spat with Brooks Koepka was long and tedious.

I hated his mission to try to bring golf courses to their knees by overpowering them. Finesse? What is that?

That is before he opens his mouth. I can barely understand a word that the man says. His discussions with his caddie are unintelligible and his TV interviews are simply mind boggling.

It came as no surprise to me that he chose to join LIV Golf because I always believed he was only in the game for the money - and LIV offered him bucketloads of the stuff.

"Good riddance," I said to myself. "He will not be missed."

BUT….

He has reinvented himself in 2024 and the new and improved model is something that golf needs more of.

The first signs emerged at The Masters in April where he finished in a tie for sixth. Having told the world that, for him, Augusta National is a par 67, he learnt the hard way that golf has a habit of biting you back. Hard. So he kept quiet this time and demonstrated that he may after all have the game to win a Green Jacket.

However, it was in defeat at Valhalla that we all witnessed the resurrection of Bryson Dechambeau. He went toe to toe with Xander Schauffele, coming up one shot shy when the dust had settled. Despite being bitterly disappointed, he made a point of shaking Schauffele warmly by the hand as he walked off the 18th green. And he was happy to pay tribute to the man who beat him at the US PGA Championship.

In truth, Valhalla was not a great major test. It simply wasn’t tough enough, and DeChambeau was almost able to bring it to its knees.

Pinehurst No. 2 was an entirely different sort of a challenge, a "proper" US Open course. And DeChambeau proved to us all that he was up to that too. 

The thing that will live with most of us from his performances at both Valhalla and Pinehurst is his passion. He engages with the galleries in a manner we haven’t seen since Tiger Woods was in his prime. He loved it. They loved it. He's also a sensation on YouTube.

It also says much about him that when he gave his winners’ press conference, his first thoughts were for McIlroy.

He said: "Rory is one of the best to ever play," DeChambeau said. "Being able to fight against a great like that is pretty special. For him to miss that putt, I’d never wish it on anybody. It just happened to play out that way.

"He’ll win multiple more major championships. There’s no doubt. I think that fire in him is going to continue to grow. I have nothing but respect for how he plays the game of golf because, to be honest, when he was climbing up the leaderboard, he was two ahead, I was like, Uh-oh, uh-oh. But luckily things went my way.

"As much as it is heartbreaking for some people, it was heartbreak for me at the PGA. I really wanted this one. I was a little lucky. Rory didn’t make a couple of putts that he could have coming in. I had an amazing up and down on the last. I don’t know what else to say. It’s a dream come true."

McIlroy, meanwhile, left the course without congratulating his rival or speaking to the media. When Greg Norman lost a six-shot lead to Nick Faldo at The Masters in 1996 he spoke to the press afterwards. After Jean Van de Velde's infamous seven at the last during the 1999 Open and subsequent playoff defeat he told us all: "Nobody died out there. It is just golf." And when Adam Scott handed The Open to Ernie Els he also faced the media afterwards.

There will be those who feel sorry for him. I just think it smacks of being a bad and ungracious loser. And the winner in all of this is Bryson Dechambeau, something I thought that I would never ever write.