AUGUSTA, Ga — Bryson DeChambeau spent part of his press conference at Augusta National reflecting on how quiet his life was while rehabbing injuries, before going on to offer overwhelming evidence to the contrary by highlighting the dizzying number of distractions he embraces.
Start with the injuries to his left hip and left hand, which he aggravated by falling during a ping pong game in Saudi Arabia (admittedly, not the most grievous damage known to afflict those who slip up over there). There followed discourses on shooting social media videos with Dude Perfect in Amen Corner, some compelling new content he has coming for the kids, the likelihood of his competing in a long drive contest next week in Florida despite the aforementioned injuries, the state of his game (somewhat similar to the state of his body), how rehab made him a better person (evidence presumably forthcoming), and the incommunicado status of Phil Mickelson (with whom he was linked to a Saudi-financed rival tour, and who while ignoring DeChambeau’s text is apparently talking to Greg Norman, if the Saudi’s pilot fish is to be believed).
DeChambeau’s injuries are persistent and troubling. The left hip issue is a torn labrum. “That was two years ago when I started speed training. I was speed training on concrete, and I kind of slipped when I got over 200 miles an hour, and didn’t really talk about it too much because it was fine,” he explained.
Until it wasn’t fine. The left-hand injury is more recent but no less attributable to his need for speed.
“I’ve been hitting a lot of golf balls for a while, and that didn’t help my hands. I didn’t get my hands, like finger strength strong enough to hold the hand in the proper place and alignment compared to the rest of my body,” he said. “I felt something last November before I played up against Brooks.”
Somewhere, Koepka’s eyes rolled.
“There was something on my hand that just kind of like popped, and was I like, Ah, that’s not normal. That didn’t feel really good at all either,” he continued. “It was tough hitting balls. I just stopped.”
He stopped playing, too. After withdrawing from the Saudi International in February, DeChambeau didn’t defend his title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and skipped the Players Championship. He returned at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play two weeks ago, but erratic play led to just a half-point from three matches. Yet he emphasized the positives of his inactivity.
“Taking six weeks off, realizing that golf isn’t everything in life,” he said. “And I’ve had a lot of things change behind the scenes, which has been awesome for me. Allowed me to do some pretty cool things on YouTube and hopefully create an audience that can see what’s going on in my life and see what I want to do, just give back to the game of golf as much as I can and get back to the younger generation.”
In short, brand-building, albeit with an altruistic motive.
“I’m not going to be here forever, so I might as well do my best to give back to the game of golf and give back to the kids as much as possible,” he said, lest that point wasn’t fully grasped.
“It’s just a great opportunity to showcase what I want to do to give back and hopefully help grow the game a little bit,” he continued. “I don’t want to say I can grow the game, but I want to give back as much as possible in that area.”
“That’s really made me a different person, I hope a better person, I think just a different person in general, have a different perspective on the game of golf as well.”
Asked if he can win, DeChambeau said he’s feeling “80 percent,” but quickly added that “at 80 percent, I’m still around 190 ball speed. So, it’s not bad from a speed perspective.”
There was, as always, more.
“I feel like I’m getting back to that place, with new speed. It’s not easy to sustain speed, have speed, create speed, and then sustain it and be able to hit it straight like I used to in 2018,” he said, warming to his favorite subject. “It’s a very difficult feat.”
A passer-by—not something that actually exists at Augusta National—might have thought they were listening to a NASCAR driver, were it not for the fact that engine jockeys sport fewer logos. In order to contend in his sixth appearance at the Masters, DeChambeau cited the usual laundry list of requirements one hears from the world’s best players: “hitting fairways, hitting greens and rolling the putter really well. You have to roll it well and read greens well.”
At the start of this year, the PGA Tour banned the green-reading books upon which DeChambeau relied heavily. The Masters, however, never permitted players to use such aids, which might help explain DeChambeau’s middling record—his best finish remains a tie for 21st as an amateur in 2016. To compensate, he’s relying on his caddie.
“He’s got a fresh set of eyes. He is very experienced in green reading and has been rolling a lot of golf balls out there, getting really comfortable, which has been nice. So, I think he’ll be a great asset out there for me,” he said.
The world No. 19 admitted that trying to rediscover the form he displayed in 2020 has been taxing: “The past few weeks have been very, very difficult on me, not playing well and not hitting it anywhere near where I know I should be hitting it in regards to straight; yelling ‘fore’ off the tee every time is just not fun. It’s very difficult on your mental psyche as well.”
To be fair, it has at times been no less difficult on the psyche of those luckless patrons in the firing line of his rocket tee shoes on the many well-documented occasions on which he didn’t shout a warning, but perhaps his more reflective comment is a welcome inkling of the personal growth he mentioned.
For all his health issues, DeChambeau hasn’t decided whether to compete in a long drive event in Florida after the Masters. “I’m trying, but it may not be the smartest thing,” he said. “We’ll see. It’s a day-by-day thing as well.”
This means next week, like this one, could be just another episode in the now-familiar DeChambeau circus, flush with extracurricular activities. “It’s kind of been nice going into this year’s Masters just peacefully going about my business,” he said.
He looked like he really believed that too.
