One year after withdrawal before the start of the US PGA Championship following hand surgery, Bryson DeChambeau Set the clubhouse goal on an air-delayed opening day in Oak Hill.
DeChambeau saw six birdies and two bogey cards in an opening 66 (-4) six on a living course in comparison to Winged Foot, the site of his dominant U.S. Open victory in 2020.
A lot has happened to the 29-year-old since then, including a feud. Brooks KoepkaHe was tagged as an eight-year-old by the equipment manufacturer after complaining during the Open Championship that his rider was “lousy” and abandoning his unhealthy bulking regimen.
DeChambeau also joined the LIV Golf Last year, five months after pledging allegiance to the PGA Tour, Thursday’s tour included accidentally hitting rival fellow Kenny Pigman, who was on the 18th tee, with a wild approach to 17th.
“There’s a great round of golf on Oak Hill,” DeChambeau said. “Prestigious place. Very difficult golf course.
“Looking at it all week, man, I don’t know how it’s possible to shoot below par on some golf holes here.
“But luckily I was able to play some really good golf, hit a lot of turf, do my job and take a few hits.
“It’s a different test (for Winged Foot) and a test I’m willing to take. If you drive well and hit your anchors well, you can play here, but if you’re not hitting properly, it can get pretty ugly pretty quickly.
Combination of injuries, loss of form and fusion LIV Golf – failing to provide world ranking points for its events – means DeChambeau has fallen from a career-smashing fourth place in the standings to 214.
And he admitted that there were times when he doubted whether he could return to the top of the game.
“How serious were they? There were times when I doubted myself, serious doubts, but I never got to the point where I was done. Maybe I’m done for a day, I’ll just take a day off, whatever, and I’m back the next day.
“Emotions definitely fluctuated pretty high and pretty low, she thinks something is wrong with me and it fails and goes back and forth.
“It’s humiliating. Golf and life always find a good way to kick you when you’re on high horses when you know what’s going on. It’s good to feel that today.”
[pub1]