New year, new me, new BDC. There’s always a lot of hope and optimism flying around at the start of a year and Bryson DeChambeau is keen for the world to see a quicker and much bulkier version of him.
In his short time in the game the 26-year-old has quickly, pardon the pun, established himself as one of the slowcoaches on tour particularly when he took a short age to hit an eight-foot putt at the Northern Trust.
Now, though, with both the European and PGA Tours cracking down on pace of play DeChambeau’s right behind the most recent move to get things moving along.
“I love it. I love it,” he said, sounding about as convincing as a turkey describing Christmas. “Even back on the PGA Tour, when stuff was happening, I told you guys, I welcome it.
“I was playing under the rules and there was no rhyme or reason to be called out, other than the fact that it looked like it was a really, really long time that it took, and it was, absolutely. I’m not saying it wasn’t.
“But I was playing under the rules at that point in time, and there’s no reason or why I should have been given so much heat. It’s just .01 per cent of the time that that happens on tour, which it happens literally with everybody out there. They just caught it on camera. There, was no time assessed, there was nothing that occurred and I played under the rules. To be called out like that was kind of weird but I understand it.”
During a photoshoot DeChambeau and co were asked to write down how long a round should last he, rather optimistically even for early January, put “3:30″. Which, even on a very good day, would be knocking at least an hour off.
“I don’t want to be out there for six hours, nor does anybody,” he added. “And there’s numerous times out there that our group is waiting for people to go, and so I certainly don’t want to be waiting on players. It’s going to hurt my momentum. Every time it happens, I feel like I get cold.”
- Related: European Tour get tough on slow play
- Related: Can the European Tour’s plan work?
As for the new-look, DeChambeau revealed he wolfed down 6,000 calories when he arrived at the Presidents Cup and his weight has increased by two stones in the past 12 months.
And with that, and the work-out regime, has come plenty of extra length, and a lot more yards.
“At the 2018 Hero World Challenge and I felt brittle. I felt like a gust of wind could push me over if I wasn’t careful. I’m not super light at 195 (14 stones) but I still didn’t feel like I was solid.
“Two years ago I was hitting driver, 5-iron, almost 4-iron into 16. On Tuesday I could have hit 9-iron into it but I hit a chip 8-iron into that hole and it was the same into the wind, 10, 15 miles an hour. I flew a driver 315 yards into a 15-mile-an-hour wind. I’ve never been able to do that before.”
DeChambeau and his quirky mind even believes that it might be good news for his pace of play.
“Considering how far I’m hitting, I don’t think that will be an issue anymore.”
Another fascinating year beckons in the now oversized shape of Bryson DeChambeau.
