AUGUSTA — Hideki Matsuyama was admiring Bryson DeChambeau’s custom driver on the par-5 8th hole at Augusta National on Thursday like any muni hacker would gaze at a friend's shiny new gear. Matsuyama rotated DeChambeau's driver in his hand, admired every angle and grinned while handing it back to his playing partner.
DeChambeau was still tinkering with which driver head he would play with on the eve of the Masters, and he remains so today even after leading the field in driving distance by more than 15 yards in the first round, at 340.5 yards per crack.
Despite his uncertainty, that driver head played a big role in DeChambeau's 3-under-par 69, which left him in a tie for fifth place after the first round of the Masters, four strokes behind Justin Rose and in striking distance to claim his first green jacket.
“Oh, I don't know," DeChambeau replied when I asked him if he would stick with the same driver he used today when he plays in the second round. “Who knows.”
DeChambeau said on Tuesday he was still tinkering with multiple driver heads on the range, marking them with a red sharpie denoting where he was missing shots with the different models. All the driver heads are custom-built to DeChambeau’s specifications. He said he brought more than a dozen to Augusta.
Whichever head he settled on worked on Thursday. Dustin Johnson was second in the field in distance, at 325.4 yards. Ludvig Aberg, who finished one shot better than DeChambeau, was third at 323.5 yards.
When I mentioned those stats to DeChambeau after the round, he said “Oh, wow,” with a wry grin. Was that distance dominance part of the plan?
“The plan is to give myself a great chance on Sunday,” DeChambeau said, “but hitting it far is a lot of fun as well.”
DeChambeau was second in the field with seven birdies, just one behind Rose. Five of those birdies were set up by drives of more than 325 yards.
He hit it 362 yards on 2, 328 on 3, 334 on 9, 344 on 13 and 351 on 15.
It was an absolute stripe show, conjuring oohs and ahs from the crowd. But he’s still not satisfied with his game.
“A little up and down,” DeChambeau said about his performance. “I want to steer that ship in the right direction. I feel like I've got a golf swing that is favorable right now; it's just not dialed in like I want it to be. I need to go work on that a little bit and get comfortable for tomorrow.”
DeChambeau was still on the driving range more than an hour after he finished, pounding drives deep into the Augusta night. Presumably, he'll decide on a driver head by the end of his practice session.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bryson DeChambeau Dominates Masters in Driving Distance While Still Tinkering.
