Re: DeChambeau missing the fairways on Sunday.
This story -- A star is reborn: How Bryson DeChambeau became the People's Champ and, again, a major winner -- included a nugget I hadn't heard.
Fifteen minutes earlier, as he was swatting drivers on the range and eliciting cheers and chuckles, DeChambeau discovered something was amiss with his most lethal weapon. He took out a level, scrutinized the angles and – ah-ha! – discovered that the 9 ½-inch curbed face on his Krank driver head had been flattened. This had happened before – it's the cost of his repeated Hulk smashes – but not minutes prior to his final-round tee time at the U.S. Open. But still, even in the midst of the equipment emergency, DeChambeau calmly swapped out the head with a backup. When he didn't approve of the replacement, he unwrapped a different one, with less loft, straight out of the packaging. Satisfied after just five mighty lashes, he returned the brand-new big stick to his Crushers-logoed bag and strode toward the first tee.
As carefree as DeChambeau seemed on the first tee, he also knew the risky club swap could doom him; those lower-lofted Krank heads tended to miss right, and here he was, sailing tee shots into the native area, again and again and again. DeChambeau led the field in total driving distance (318.9 yards) but hit just five fairways and didn't manage a birdie on his opening nine, allowing McIlroy, playing in the group ahead, to catch him.
This story -- A star is reborn: How Bryson DeChambeau became the People's Champ and, again, a major winner -- included a nugget I hadn't heard.
Fifteen minutes earlier, as he was swatting drivers on the range and eliciting cheers and chuckles, DeChambeau discovered something was amiss with his most lethal weapon. He took out a level, scrutinized the angles and – ah-ha! – discovered that the 9 ½-inch curbed face on his Krank driver head had been flattened. This had happened before – it's the cost of his repeated Hulk smashes – but not minutes prior to his final-round tee time at the U.S. Open. But still, even in the midst of the equipment emergency, DeChambeau calmly swapped out the head with a backup. When he didn't approve of the replacement, he unwrapped a different one, with less loft, straight out of the packaging. Satisfied after just five mighty lashes, he returned the brand-new big stick to his Crushers-logoed bag and strode toward the first tee.
As carefree as DeChambeau seemed on the first tee, he also knew the risky club swap could doom him; those lower-lofted Krank heads tended to miss right, and here he was, sailing tee shots into the native area, again and again and again. DeChambeau led the field in total driving distance (318.9 yards) but hit just five fairways and didn't manage a birdie on his opening nine, allowing McIlroy, playing in the group ahead, to catch him.
