Bryson DeChambeau: A Major transformation

Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open victory at Winged Foot will be looked upon not just as career-defining, but as the moment that rendered his unapologetic one-man pursuit of changing the game impossible to ignore.

He has always tested the regular approach to the sport, and his way of actively searching for new scientific ways to provide a solution to playing the game have often been quickly filed away under a list of eccentricities unique to Bryson, ‘the golf scientist’.

His distinctive ideas such as one-length clubs created plenty of debate, but victories in events like The Memorial Tournament or Omega Dubai Desert Classic also kept him at the forefront of conversation.

And still, for all of his success in the game worldwide, stemming from his U.S. Amateur win to eight professional victories, heading into 2020 DeChambeau’s best result in 14 previous Major Championship starts had been a tie for 15th during the 2016 U.S Open.

So what changed?

Bryson did.

At the end of last year he warned he was going to be making some significant changes to his body.

“I’m going to come back next year and look like a different person,” he had promised in a new pursuit of gaining distance and bulking up.

“You’re going to see some pretty big changes in my body, which is going to be a good thing.”

A noticeably bigger DeChambeau first appeared at the Presidents Cup, with an additional 25 pounds of muscle and a driver that had just 4.8 degrees of loft – unheard of outside of the professional long drive circuit.

And it was just the beginning.

I think I’m definitely changing the way people think about the game. I hope that inspires people to say, ‘Hey, look, maybe there is a different way to do it.’

In an interview with GQ, DeChambeau explained that his new regime includes working out every day and drinking six-seven protein shakes, all part of a plan devised with Greg Rospkoff, a MAT [muscle activation techniques] specialist.

The frankly eye-opening body transformation – which includes gaining an extra 20 pounds of weight over lockdown earlier this year - and accompanying swing change brought about as much scratching of heads as it did critique of the latest additions to a list that included talk of calculating air density,.

But Bryson was assured of the new strategy that saw him quickly rise to the top of the driving distance statistics, and his results became the validation of his hard work.

DeChambeau finished inside the top 10 for three consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour before earning his seventh PGA Tour win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He then finished fourth at the US PGA Championship, two shots behind eventual winner Collin Morikawa.

But Winged Foot Golf Club is a very different beast. With exceptionally narrow fairways and thick rough, DeChambeau outlined a strategy of distance and strength that seemed inexplicable.

"I'm hitting it as far as I possibly can up there," he had declared. “Even if it's in the rough, I can still get it to the front edge or the middle of the greens with pitching wedges or nine-irons. That's the beauty of my length and that advantage.

"There are certain holes I might lay up on just because of the situation, but for the most part I'm going to be trying to go after it as much as I possibly can.”

For a course that saw 2006 winner Geoff Ogilvy finish at five over par, DeChambeau’s eyebrow-lifting declaration was wildly at odds with a tournament renowned for rewarding accuracy.

Bryson proved otherwise. Finishing at six under par - six strokes ahead of runner-up Matthew Wolff - DeChambeau played the U.S. Open in a way that has rarely been attempted or achieved. By simply overpowering the course.

A convincing U.S. Open victory has turned heads and opinions about DeChambeau and a fact that can no longer be denied: He is changing the way the game can be played before our eyes.

And whether it’s his body, his equipment or his approach, he’s far from finished.

“I'm not going to stop,” he said after his victory.

“I think I’m definitely changing the way people think about the game. I hope that inspires people to say, ‘Hey, look, maybe there is a different way to do it.’ Not everybody has to do it my way. I’m not saying that. I’m just saying in general that there are different ways to do things. If you can find your own way, find your passion—like Arnie said, swing your swing. That’s what I do. That's what Matthew Wolff does. That’s what Tiger does. That’s what Phil does. That's what everybody does. We’re all trying to play the best golf we can.”