5 biggest questions heading into the Masters

2. Will Bryson DeChambeau obliterate Augusta National?

Sandy Lyle won the Masters way back in 1988. He’s played 110 competitive rounds at Augusta National dating back to 1980 and countless more practice rounds. But he had never seen it like he did last week, when he played a round with golf’s newest superstar and headline attraction, Bryson DeChambeau.

Based on Lyle’s recollection, told to SiriusXM’s Carl Paulson, DeChambeau ripped apart the course. Augusta National wasn’t designed to be played from some of the places DeChambeau hit it. He had an eight-iron into the 575-yard par-five second hole; for comparison, Louis Oosthuizen hit four-iron when he famously made double eagle in the final round in 2012.

DeChambeau hit it over the green on the 350-yard, par-four third hole with a three-wood. He had no more than seven-iron on the par-five eighth, 13th, and 15th holes. He hit pitching wedge into the 495-yard 10th. And, on the finishing 18th, he completely blasted it past the fairway bunkers—unreachable to most players—and into the adjoining fairway.

DeChambeau’s transformation into the game’s premier power player makes him a threat at any course, but perhaps none more so than Augusta National. He led the PGA Tour in driving distance in 2020 at 322 yards, 20 more than he averaged the year before. He was first in strokes gained: off the tee, and is leading that category this season, as well. He won the U.S. Open by six shots despite hitting just 23 of 56 fairways. In his last start, a tie for eighth at the Shriners Hospitals Open, he lapped the field averaging an incredible 363 yards off the tee.

DeChambeau hasn’t enjoyed much success at the Masters in his short career. His best finish came as an amateur in 2016 when he was tied for 21st. He ranks last in putting over the last three years among players with at least eighth rounds. The powers that be at Augusta, significantly, don’t allow players to use green-reading books, something the analytical DeChambeau relies on.

His past performances, though, came when DeChambeau was not the player he is now. He already conquered the U.S. Open. If he slips the Green Jacket around his broad shoulders on Sunday, it would be a game-changing win, one that might make golf’s governing bodies take another look at the impact of increased distance on the game.