On Bryson DeChambeau’s method madness

Bryson DeChambeau’s obsessive unorthodoxy isn’t a gimmick. It works. And his success on the PGA Tour this year may just win him a Ryder Cup call-up

August 31, 2018 11:11 pm | Updated September 01, 2018 10:05 am IST

Bryson DeChambeau holds up the trophy after winning the Northern Trust golf tournament, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Paramus, N.J.

Bryson DeChambeau holds up the trophy after winning the Northern Trust golf tournament, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Paramus, N.J.

The golfing world hasn’t always known what to make of Bryson DeChambeau.

When a physics major confesses that he is addicted to obscure coaching manuals, people tend to look at him strangely.

Add the fact that all his irons are of the same length so he can swing his clubs along a single plane — an idea he thought of and tested after reading The Golfing Machine, the arcane 1969 instructional — and you have someone who marches to his own beat.

But that’s not all. He chose very thick grips because he felt they were more efficient in transferring his “force” to the club. He also helped design a putter with clean lines and a black matte finish so the sun didn’t glint off it at different angles. Oh, and he carried a geometric compass around with him — to draw perfect circles in his course-charting yardage books and determine where the holes truly lay.

The compass got him in trouble with the USPGA, which had earlier frowned upon his side-saddle putting technique. Many traditionalists felt similarly. For them, DeChambeau was too radical, an attention-seeking oddball, not an original thinker who was prepared to put his money where his mouth was.

But this view didn’t go unchallenged — for two reasons.

One, his obsessive love of the game and the obvious joy it gave him resonated with fellow golf tragics — fans and professionals. “I feel a lot of the things that he says, but we articulate it completely differently,” Tiger Woods said of DeChambeau. “It’s a lot of fun to needle him and give him a hard time about it, but I definitely respect what he says. He does a lot of research, he is very into what he’s doing.”

And two, the results were impossible to argue against. His triumph at The Northern Trust this week earned him a third PGA Tour title. Only three others have won the NCAA Championship, the US Amateur and at least three Tour events before their 25th birthday: Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus, three of the sport’s greatest.

And only Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas have more top-10 finishes this season than DeChambeau’s eight.

The success hasn’t merely brought his methods greater acceptance — his nickname, ‘The Mad Scientist’, is used more with respect than derision these days — but it has also put him in contention for higher honours. When Jim Furyk decides on his four picks as captain of the US Ryder Cup team, it’s hard to see DeChambeau missing out.

“Hopefully, he [Furyk] can see that I’ve got some grit and grind, and that even when I don’t execute certain shots, I can get it done,” DeChambeau said about his chances of making this month’s premier team tournament. The 24-year-old has already had a feel of the occasion. In true, unconventional fashion, he flew himself to Minnesota for the 2016 Ryder Cup to get a sense of it as a spectator.

“I definitely wanted to have an experience of what it would be like,” he said. “That was really fun. I hope I get the opportunity to do that in the next few weeks.”

DeChambeau certainly has one vocal backer. “I think he would be a great Ryder Cup partner for anyone,” said Woods. “We all know he’s extremely intelligent, but his heart, he gives it everything he has. He’s fiery, he’s competitive. We are going overseas into a pretty hostile environment, so we want guys that are mentally tough. He’s been through a lot in his life, and he’s worked hard to get to where he’s at.”

If DeChambeau is chosen, Ryder Cup fans won’t just gasp in amazement at his unique one-size-fits-all clubs; they will also get to watch one of golf’s bravest, smartest, most open minds.

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