10 Things You Might Not Know About Bryson DeChambeau

1) Last June DeChambeau became the first player from Southern Methodist University  to win the NCAA individual championship, the top annual competition in US collegiate golf, winning by one shot.

2) Two months later he also won the US Amateur title, defeating Derek Bard 7 & 6 in the final. He became just the fifth golfer to win both titles in the same year, joining none other than Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Ryan Moore.

3) He won’t be able to defend his NCAA title as the SMU golf programme was handed a ban after being found guilty of multiple violations involving recruiting and unethical conduct under a former head coach.

4) All his irons are the same length (that of a 7-iron), same lie angle and same shaft. Just different loft with four degrees difference between each of them. All irons also have the same bounce configuration. He is still working on the perfect length for the woods. He has been playing this way for five years.

5) The idea came from a chat with his coach and was based on something called the Golfing Machine.

“It allowed me 20 swings on the same plane and when I did that, I realised I couldn’t do that with a wedge and 3-iron, I would be changing body motions. And I said, that doesn’t make sense. I said, let’s make them on the same lie angle and same length.”

DeChambeau puts his golf balls in a bowl of Epson Salts to balance each one 6) DeChambeau is a major in physics and has thus been dubbed the ’Mad Scientist’.

7) OK, brace yourself.

He puts his golf balls in a bowl of Epson Salts to balance each one. He will then spin the ball and the out-of-balance one will wobble to where the low point or heavy side of the ball is due to the centre of gravity not being in the exact centre. The 22-year-old will then put 60 milligrams of lead tape to see if the ball then flips back over. If the ball is more than 60mgs out of balance then he won’t play it.
Supposedly four out of every dozen are taken out.

8)As for the Hogan hat he will only wear it on tournament days and not in the practice rounds.

9) In Abu Dhabi he is playing on a sponsor’s invite. Last year at the Australian Masters he finished runner-up behind Peter Senior. He is the No 4 amateur in the world and it is thought that he will turn pro the day after the Masters in April.

10) He has played in one Major, the 2015 US Open where he missed the cut at Chambers Bay. A few months later he was the star name on the American Walker Cup team at Lytham. He was unbeaten in three matches, strangely rested on the first morning, but part of a crushing defeat by 16.5 to 9.5.