MAMARONECK, N.Y. – With his bulked-up physique and brawny game, Bryson DeChambeau has encountered a new problem.
Hitting it too far – not just with his driver, but even his shortest clubs, too.
Working late on the range Thursday afternoon, DeChambeau was trying to figure out why his wedges were flying farther than he was anticipated.
“It was saying on the devices that I was hitting it shorter than it was actually going,” he said.
As he explained, DeChambeau typically carries his 47-degree pitching wedge about 145 yards. But on the range, he was hitting shots that were flying 155. He was flummoxed.
“We just didn’t calibrate it correctly,” he said. “I was flying everything 10 yards long consequently with my wedges. We recalibrated all of them today, and I felt like they worked out really well today.”
That included a perfect wedge on the final hole of the day. After a 380-yard drive on the par-5 ninth, DeChambeau stuffed a pitching wedge to 6 feet to cap his second round with an eagle, giving him a 2-under 68 and a two-round total of 3-under 137, best in the clubhouse.
“I feel great,” he said. “Confidence is at an all-time high right now. Driving it well, iron play is fantastic, wedging is getting better each and every day, and I’m putting it like I know I can. Very happy.”
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Coming off a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship – the first major top-10 of his career – DeChambeau raised a few eyebrows when he said that he was going to pound driver all over Winged Foot. That was a decidedly different strategy than most players in the field, who emphasized putting the ball in play to avoid the long, gnarly rough. But DeChambeau has stuck with his approach and taken advantage of his newfound length, leading the field in strokes gained: off the tee while finding half of his fairways.
“I feel like there’s so many holes out here that I can take advantage of that some people can’t,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to win or anything. You’ve still got to execute; you’ve still got to hit the driver straight. If I’m hitting the driver far but all over the place, you can’t make birdies from the rough. It’s very difficult to. I still have to work on hitting it straight while hitting it far. That’s a unique combo that I’m going to strive for for the rest of my life.”