Players are in awe of Bryson DeChambeau’s new-found power

Bryson DeChambeau taking his powerful drives to RBC Heritage this week

Rory McIlroy was already five-over on Sunday at the Charles Schwab Challenge, his chances of winning the PGA Tour’s first event in three months all but gone, when he stepped to the tee on the long par-5 11th.

With nothing left to lose, McIlroy took out his driver, unleashed his smooth, powerful swing, and sent the ball perfectly down the left side of the fairway. It was a great drive, but it was nothing compared to what his playing partner, Bryson DeChambeau, had just done before him.

“He hit one into the wind at 11. I hit a really good one and probably hit it like 315, 320,” McIlroy explained on Wednesday prior to the start of the RBC Heritage. “He must have flew my ball by 40 yards. He hit it about 370, 375 into the wind. It was crazy, it was nuts, it was unbelievable.”

DeChambeau didn’t win last week at Colonial, finishing a shot behind champion Daniel Berger after missing a birdie putt on the 72nd hole. But his transformation from the methodical, scientific player he was when he first came out on tour to the muscular power player he’s become could not be ignored.

McIlroy led the PGA Tour in driving in 2017 and 2018 and has been in the top-three each of the last four seasons; he’s been no worse than ninth in driving distance since 2011. On Sunday at Colonial, DeChambeau out-drove him by 36 yards. Dustin Johnson has been in the top-five in distance nine of the last 10 years. Playing with DeChambeau the first two rounds, DeChambeau drove it 40 yards longer than the 20-time tour winner. DeChambeau leads the tour in driving this season at 323 yards, 20 yards longer than last year when he ranked 34th. Last week he led the field with an average drive of 340 yards; only one player, Matthew Wolff, was within 10 yards of him.

Bryson DeChambeau impresses with new power at Colonial

DeChambeau, always calculating the odds and percentages, made the determination that the best way to reach the next level in his PGA Tour career was not to out-think the competition but to overpower them. He’s gained 40 pounds since last season, all of it solid muscle, thanks to a strenuous workout regimen. He put on 20 pounds during the tour’s three-month hiatus leading into Colonial. His hulking upper-body has led to a dramatic increase in clubhead speed, and his fellow competitors are taking notice.

“Obviously, at the start of the year he came out and he was a bit bigger and you can see he was getting a bit of speed and stuff and he was hitting it a long way,” McIlroy said. “But he hit a couple of drives on Sunday that Harry (Diamond, McIlroy’s caddie) and I just looked at each other and were like, ‘Holy shit, that was unbelievable.”

DeChambeau will be making his fourth career appearance at Harbor Town this week, a course that, on the surface, doesn’t appear to suit his new-found power. At 7,099 yards, it’s one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour. The last five champions of the RBC Heritage ranked 56th in driving distance that week. Jim Furyk won in 2015 despite being 75th out of 76 players in driving. DeChambeau has missed the cut here two of the last three years, although he did finish tied for third in 2018.

Johnson, who’s played the RBC Heritage the last two years but didn’t finish better than 16th, believes the course is set up to challenge all aspects of your game, not just your driving. “I think it’s a great golf course. You’ve got to do everything well around here,” he said. “It’s really small greens, the fairways are really narrow and on a lot of the holes you’ve got to hit it in the right or left side of the fairway just to have a shot at the green. Driving is a big part, but you got to hit irons off the tee, 3-woods, drivers, it all depends. And the par-3s are pretty tough.”

DeChambeau may have the driver taken out of his hands this week, but he showed at Colonial there’s more to his game. He finished eighth last week in strokes gained: approach to the green and led the field in scrambling, getting up-and-down 12 of 15 times.

“It’s impressive what he’s doing,” McIlroy said. “There’s going to be courses where it works and courses where it won’t. I can’t see him hitting many drivers this week, for example.” He won’t be able to unleash his powerful drives at Harbor Town as he did at Colonial, but that’s just fine by him.

And as long as he combines the most powerful swing on tour with his characteristic preparation, course knowledge, and deft touch, he’ll be a contender nearly every week. DeChambeau is already a five-time PGA Tour winner at the age of 26 but looks ready and able to add a couple more trophies to his resume the rest of 2020.