How DeChambeau’s hopes at Augusta National faded quickly

MASTERS 2024: Full coverage from News 12

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Bryson DeChambeau’s week at the Masters started so promisingly and ended in disappointment.

DeChambeau shot the lowest round of the week, an opening 65 on Thursday. But the big hitter couldn’t do much after that magnificent hole-out for birdie to finish his third round Saturday, ending up nine shots back of Scottie Scheffler in sixth.

DeChambeau played the final three rounds in 73-75-73.

“It was a positive step in the right direction for me out here. Learned a lot about my game and knowing that I can do it out here,” DeChambeau said. “Just got to conquer the putting a little bit more and make sure my speed control is a little bit better. I’d be right up there where Scottie is now if I just wouldn’t have three-putted and made a few more putts.”

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DeChambeau is a player with a reputation for not being relatable to many everyday golfers. For many golf followers, It didn’t help when he took the LIV route.

He used to be the mad scientist who calculated barometric pressure and the decay of spin rate in altitude when trying to figure out how to best play the game.

Then he became the incredible bulk, adding 40 pounds of muscle and mass with a diet of some 3,500 calories a day in an effort to swing the club faster and hit the ball farther than anyone.

Now he’s trying for a new image.

“The golf phase,” DeChambeau said Thursday. “Trying to be the best golfer I can be.”

He was once so arrogant that he called Augusta National a par-67 course because of his power. But he has matured a bit over the years, and that maturity was on full display at the Masters.

The former low amateur at the event was seeking his first green jacket not by overpowering the course but by working with it. He was patient and took only calculated risks. And his putting was sublime, which is usually the most important thing on the fast, undulating greens of Augusta National.

As for that “par-67″ comment from 2020, DeChambeau said: “You know, you mess up. I’m not a perfect person. Everybody messes up. You learn from your mistake, and that was definitely one.”