19th Hole

Is this the real reason behind Bryson DeChambeau’s total loss of form?

Published

3 months ago

Apr 10, 2023

In last week’s column, Rich Hunt identified his 23 players who can win the Masters, with his final ten picks including both eventual champion Jon Rahm and 54-hole leader and tied-second, Brooks Koepka.

At the start of the piece, Rich quickly dismissed 14 of the 18 LIV players “based on their most recent performances on the PGA Tour as well as how well the player has played on the LIV Tour.” They included the 2020 U.S Open champion and former world number four, Bryson DeChambeau.

Once the darling of the long-hitters, the 29-year-old has admitted he is currently “working on stuff,” – a nod to the contents of his 2023 golf bag – but it remains that he has not won since the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational and looks a far cry from the player that, just under three years ago, recorded a six-shot romp at Winged Foot.

Posting on Twitter as Hunt Golf Analytics, Rich posted the reasons he believes Bryson has failed to progress, concentrating on his iron play.

The post starts by saying that, after the pandemic, BDC was the “best driver of the ball on Tour who was doing a reasonably good job on approach shots and around the green & was putting really well,” before looking at the Power-To Putting Principle, a method he wrote about in a column in 2019.

The Power-to-Putting Principle is that there's a strong correlation between distance off the tee and the length of average birdie putts. This mainly comes from par-5's and dogleg par-4's where long hitters get the biggest advantage. pt3

— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) April 7, 2023

Rich suggests that, “They’re [long hitters] more likely to make shorter length putts than superior putters of the ball are to make longer putts,” before saying that, “if you have arguably the longest hitter on Tour and he’s putting great, that means a lot of birdie putts are going to fall because they are higher% putts being made by a superior putter of the ball.”

The Twitter post mentions some of the past golfing legends, “were often very long off the tee and good putters (Bobby Jones, Palmer, Seve, Greg Norman, Nicklaus, Watson, Tiger, etc)” before analyzing Bryson’s current issue.

But one of the things Bryson has had some issues with is his iron play. After his hot streak after the pandemic/pre-injury his iron play was weak from the Red Zone (175-225 yards). And throughout his career, his iron play has been, at best, up-and-down. pt7

— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) April 7, 2023

The study continues.

“Sometimes his iron play has been exceptional and other times it’s been some of the worst on Tour,” says Rich. “And since he’s never been a good player around the greens, when his iron play is off, it’s going to result in a lot of bogeys.”

As fans are aware, Bryson has single-length irons through the bag, and Hunt suggests that those, plus a fascination for the Long Drive Competition, are not the methods by which a player can become a good iron player.

and while I'm all for speed training and have great admiration and awe for Long Drive competitors, I'm not so sure that training and competing in long drive competitions is the best thing for becoming a good iron player by Tour standards. 10/10

— Hunt Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) April 7, 2023

Looking at the official stats for the 2021 season, Bryson completed 15 events, leading the ‘off-the-tee’ stats in five, and ranking top-five in another two. However, he also recorded eight events with a ranking of 40 and worse for approaches and 12 times a minus figure for ‘around-the-green.’

Rich believes he can come back.

Answering a respondent, he writes, “He’s still young and has shown the ability to play at a top level. So many people in golf don’t realize just how up-and-down and unpredictable careers on Tour are. That’s a big reason why I think the LIVT model is flawed.”

Given his statistics when winning his one and only major (1st off-the-tee, 1st approaches, 3rd around-the-green and 20th for putting) Bryson has a few years to get it all back – Winged Foot is due to host the U.S Open again in 2028.

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19th Hole

Golf fans are loving this awkward Bryson fan interaction video at latest LIV event

Published

18 hours ago

Jul 10, 2023

Matt Vincenzi

Over the weekend at LIV Golf London, Bryson DeChambeau continued his solid run of form, finishing in 13th place. Centurion Club had a respectable turnout of fans on site, with plenty following the big-hitting Dechambeau.

At one point, a fan reached out to fist bump the former U.S. Open champion but didn’t quite reach. The Crushers GC, of which Bryson captains, made a light-hearted post on Instagram with a video of the moment.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crushers GC (@crushers_gc)

“These fans edits are getting out of control… ?”

DeChambeau commented on the post, “just a couple inches short…”

The 29-year-old will tee it up next at the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. He had success at the Open Championship hosted by St. Andrews last year, finishing in 8th place.

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Content creator leaves golf fans triggered after showing how to make the perfect ‘John Daly’ cocktail

Published

18 hours ago

Jul 10, 2023

Matt Vincenzi

John Daly is one of the biggest names in golf despite not having played at very high level for quite some time due to injuries and health issues. Over the weekend, Daly found himself in some social media controversy once again, although it was no fault of his own.

A popular TikTok account, @cookingwith_darryl, mentioned a drink he called the “John Daly” in one of his videos. The food connoisseur has gotten very popular on the app by posting videos while cooking on his Blackstone grill.

“In my opinion there are two drinks synonymous with golf. You want to argue with me? Bring it! One is the Transfusion, the other is the John Daly. Let’s make the perfect John Daly.”

Darryl then went on to explain the ingredients: A chilled glass, vodka, and equal parts lemonade and iced tea.

@cookingwithdarryl Another classic drink for the golf course…The John Daly #drinks #golf #rukiddingme #rhoback ? original sound – dpostelnick

However, the TikTok users in the comment section were furious with the content creator, saying the drink he described was an “Arnold Palmer,” not a “John Daly.”

Darryl was sure to point out the very important distinction between the two: the “John Daly” contains vodka and “Arnold Palmer” does not.

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‘Heartbreaking’ – Matt Wolff responds after being blasted by LIV teammate Brooks Koepka

Published

4 days ago

Jul 7, 2023

Matt Vincenzi

Yesterday, Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka publicly blasted his teammate Matthew Wolff in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

“I mean, when you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that’s not competing,” said Koepka. “I’m not a big fan of that. You don’t work hard. It’s very tough. It’s very tough to have even like a team dynamic when you’ve got one guy that won’t work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, gets down, bad body language, it’s very tough. I’ve basically given up on him—a lot of talent, but I mean the talent’s wasted.”

On Friday morning, Wolff issued his response to Koepka via Sports Illustrated.

The 24-year-old said it was “beyond disappointing” to read Koepka’s comments.

“I read the SI interview with our Captain Brooks Koepka and it was beyond disappointing to me. When I chose to join his Team in 2023, I did so with much optimism about my new home as part of Team Smash and equally as important the chance to be around and learn from a player of Brooks’s stature. Like everyone who has ever played the game at the highest level, I have had competitive moments in the past that I feel I have let myself down and even others in our new team environment. This has been quite difficult for me. My challenges on and off the golf course with my mental health has been well documented. I deal with those challenges every day.

“However, while my 2023 season has not been all I had hoped for to this point, I have made positive strides in managing my life and feel Ike my game is turning for the positive. To hear through the media that our team leader has given up on me is heartbreaking. It’s not what a team member looks to hear from its leader, and I think we all know these comments should have been handled much differently. But I’m moving forward and won’t ever give up on myself. While on course results may not appear now to be positive indicators, I’m trying to win an even BIGGER game with my life.

“Finally, I trust Brooks wants what is best for our team. But it’s hard to imagine his comments in his recent SI interview in any way line up with those priorities. This will be my last comment on this matter. I’m heading out today to the Centurion Club trying to help our team win this week. I appreciate everyone’s continued support and your respect for my privacy.”

Both Koepka and Wolff will be teeing it up at Centurion Club on Friday. Koepka will be playing with Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, while Wolff will play alongside his fellow Smash GC teammates (minus the captain) Chase Koepka and Jason Kokrak.