All this week, I’ll be following bryson dechambeau through his rounds at augusta national, as he attempts to improve on his 34th-place finish in the fall. you can see the ranking of teachers here.
so the first round is in the books for 2020 u.s. open champion and was no big deal for dechambeau. While fighting at Augusta National on Thursday, Justin Rose was tearing up the venerable field en route to a 65, so he will start Friday 11 shots off the lead. here are some other numbers:
score: 76 (+4, t-60) birdies: 1 bogeys: 3 double bogeys: 1 shot on fairways: 7 of 14 greens in regulation: 9 of 18
on the plus side, after a rough start with the driver, bryson started to pick up his pace off the tee and hit some excellent shots over the back nine. his tee shots on the 10 with a 3-wood were a little short and correct, but good. His drive at 14 was good, and then he squashed the ball at 15 and hit big drives that found the fairway at 17 and 18.
after signing his card, dechambeau said his new 4.5 degree driver stays in the bag; he just needs to make better swings.
“Personally, I didn’t do too bad. he’s just golf man, I don’t know what else to say,” she said afterwards.
dechambeau said the wind changed direction while playing the fourth hole, which is where he double bogeyed, and that he didn’t trust the right-side wind on the fifth hole, where he bogeyed after missing the fairway on the left side.
“I need to understand how the ball flies from downhill slopes to uphill greens. on the contrary, uphill slopes become downhill greens,” he said after being asked what he needs to work on. “We just can’t fit the numbers very well, and the wind is pretty tricky here.”
and that’s the hard part for someone as analytical as bryson. instinctively, she wants to study things and learn how they work, but she comes back to play at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. m., so there is not much time to calculate too many things. his yardage was wrong all day; she hit approach shots well past her intended targets and appeared to be beside herself on several holes.
To make the cut and play the weekend, bryson, who finished t-60 thursday, needs to make some birdies and avoid big numbers. the rule governing the cut changed in 2020 so now the under 50 players and ties qualify for the final 36 holes. the ten shot rule is gone.
here’s the bottom line: bryson’s putt was good and his driving wasn’t too bad either. on Friday, he needs his iron set to be sharp. much stronger than Thursday. if that doesn’t happen, nothing else is going to matter.
bryson tracker
hole 18 – par 4
the broken record had one more song to play on the 18th hole, holly. After playing to the far left of the box to create a better angle off the tee, Bryson Dechambeau hit a massive 332-yard drive that cleared bunkers on the fairway to the left and set up a 132-yard approach shot. easy, right? No. he airmailed the green and left the ball above the hole. his first putt delicately made its way to the hole, but missed. he hit the ball for a couple and went to sign his 76 on 4.
hole 17 – par 4
augusta national can make a player’s day difficult in many ways. Pine trees get in your way if you miss the fairway, Rae Creek gobbles up golf balls around the corner, and humps and undulations on the greens make your targets on approach shots that much smaller. Dechambeau’s shot from 148 yards at Nandina, the 17th hole, wasn’t too bad, but it hit a ridge and went 49 feet from the hole. His birdie putt was placed just a foot from the cup, but if that approach shot had been hit a few feet further to the right, the mound kicks the ball toward the pin and Dechambeau might have been rewarded with another good shot. birdy. welcome to the teachers.
bryson on the day: from 4 to 17.
hole 16 – par 3
a routine par on the 16th redbud keeps bryson at +4, 11 shots behind justin rose, who just shot a fantastic 65. again, his tee shot on the par 3 went too far. I have played Augusta National and we have all seen this hole for years. when the flag is at the bottom level, you want to hit your shot on the slope and let it feed into the cup. bryson’s shot was too much and never gave the ball a chance to get close using the contours of the green.
bryson on the day: from 4 to 16.
hole 15 – par 5
circle it, bryson birdies the par 5 15th hole, his first birdie of the day, and it was textbook material. a massive hit down the right side toward the junction between the fairway and the first cut set up a middle-iron approach shot from 175 yards. he left it pin-high and just off the right edge of the green, then saw his putt run about 10 feet past the hole, but putt back for a four on the 530-yard firethorn.
bryson on the day: from 4 to 15.
hole 14 – par 4
after a 296-yard run down the left side of no. 14, Chinese fir, Dechambeau’s approach shot went too far, taking a big jump and then a smaller one before hitting the brakes 22 feet behind the pin. his birdie attempt slipped 3 feet past the left hole, and he had to settle for par, his 10th of the day to go with three bogeys and a double bogey. beautiful.
bryson on the day: from 5 to 14.
hole 13 – par 5
earlier this week, while bryson dechambeau was practicing on the course, the tracer patterns of his shots overlapped on the 13th hole, azalia, the famous par 5 with a dogleg to the left. Dechambeau’s shots would have left about 130 yards to the center of the green! but instead of cutting the corner, dechambeau’s shot went too straight (i hate when that happens) and sped through the fairway, pine straw, and trees and ended up on 14th fairway. He placed 98 yards from the hole, then hit a wedge that stopped and left Dechambeau with an 11-foot spin for birdie. he ended up failing on the low side and dechambeau had to settle for par.
the man who leads the pga tour in par 5 with a scoring average (4.39) has 1 par 5 today and one remains to be played.
bryson on the day: from 5 to 13.
hole 12 – par 3
jack nicklaus used to say that every time he played golden bell, the 12th hole at augusta national, he aimed for the center of the green. if he hit it short, the bunker would save him, but a shot to the left or right would also be safe. bryson went wide, over the middle of the green, and then tried to drive the ball uphill and into the hole. Easier said than done, and the putt barely made it to the surface of the green, leaving him with an 11-foot putt that’s faster than the Cyclone at Coney Island. His attempt to save par rolled smoothly down the cup to the right, leading to a tap-in bogey.
bryson on the day: 5 out of 12.
hole 11 – par 4
The White Dogwood is always one of the most challenging holes at Augusta National during the Masters, and when Bryson hit the tee just before 5 p.m. Eastern time, only two players had birdied it. Bryson’s 329-yard tee shot into the right trees didn’t help matters, but he was able to find the green on his second shot to set up a 61-foot birdie putt. His putt never really scared the hole, coming 6 feet away, but he putted for par with confidence.
bryson on the day: from 4 to 11.
hole 10 – par 4
a new nine, a new nine, a strategic move by bryson! Dechambeau opts to hit the 3-wood off the tee, but hits the ball too far to the right to catch the famous speed slot on the fairway, leaving himself 212 yards from the hole with a downhill lie. From there, Dechambeau’s approach shot was long and to the right of the flag, then he rolled off the slope and into the cup. From 33 feet away, he pushed the ball in the general direction of the pin and let gravity and slopes do the rest. It was a beautiful putt that stopped inches to the right of the cup for a tap-in par.
bryson on the day: 4 out of 10.
hole 9 – par 4
I like that better. After hitting a 358-yard tee shot on the par-4 dogleg left, Dechambeau hit a clipped short iron from 109 yards that grabbed the green, spun and backed 30 feet to set up a difficult but doable birdie putt. The ball didn’t go into the hole to the left, but Bryson made the 4-footer returning for par and a starting nine of 40.
bryson on the day: from 4 to 9.
hole 8 – par 5
a critical ingredient in the recipe for winning at augusta is making birdies and eagles on the par 5s, something bryson dechambeau is certainly qualified for, but on thursday he killed the yellow jasmine.
after making a series of powerful practice swings and then smashing a driver to the right and into the trees.
after punching trees, dechambeau’s ball came to rest on the left side of the fairway in a mound, leaving him 185 yards from the pin. That’s not the stance he wanted because a ball under the feet of a right-hander tends to go to the right, and Dechambeau needed to make a shot to the left. Staying in current form, he overcooked the shot and his shot flew too far, then skipped across the green and down the slope to the left.
showing all the touch of a jfk baggage handler, dechambeau hit a low pitch to the bench trying to roll his ball into the hole. he didn’t stop just a foot on the green surface, leaving bryson with 17 feet for par. he missed the putt to the right, then bogeyed 5 feet.
“clean up aisle eight!”
bryson on the day: from 4 to 8.
hole 7 – par 4
Proving he has a complete game, Bryson Dechambeau hits the 3-wood off the tee at Pampas, the par-4 seventh hole, and quickly misses that fairway to the left. he has missed a left on the first, second, fifth and now the seventh hole. he has hit a fairway, on the third hole, and a fair green, on the third. notice a pattern?
Although he had a clear view of the green, Bryson ducked his head as his approach shot flew left into a greenside bunker. he stayed on the grass and was able to fight to save the pair.
at 3, the dechambeau is fine. He is six strokes away from the head or brian harmon and hideki matsuyama, who are made of the day. a few more pairs and some stability is what you need right now.
bryson on the day: from 3 to 7.
hole 6 – par 3
long is not where you want to be on the sixth hole, juniper. Guess where Bryson’s tee shot went on the downhill par 3? yes… on the green.
Opting for the putt over the chip, like most players, dechambeau’s putt stopped 8 feet above the hole, but then the funniest thing happened. bryson made the putt. he went into the cup to save the pair. which is good.
bryson on the day: 3 out of 6.
hole 5 – par 4
another driver, another miss left for dechambeau off the tee. this time, at magnolia, the 495-yard par-4, bryson braved the bunkers on the fairway to the left and his ball knocked over a pine branch. The good news was that Bryson only had 183 yards to the flag, but the bad news was that his angle was lousy. his iron shot weighted to the right of the green, which was not surprising, but the ball went too far to the right and came to rest on pine straw behind a row of trees and a small scaffolding set up to support a technician.
instead of playing the hole, bryson backed off, onto the tee box and was 42 yards from the hole. From there, he hit a tricky drop shot over the false front to set up a 9-foot bogey, which he made.
what would you mix with chocolate, vodka or rum protein shake?
bryson on the day: 3 out of 5.
hole 4 – par 3
the hole at blooming crabapple, the fourth hole at augusta national, cut 12 feet into the putting green’s surface from the right edge of the green on thursday, but bryson dechambeau’s ball went about 30 feet to the right of the green complex and in some bushes.
Leaning into the bushes, with one foot in the vegetation and the other on the second cut, Dechambeau could only push the ball about 6 feet over the turf and leave an 18-foot par putt through the refrigerator. that shot missed to the left, and then his 6-foot bogey return missed the high side. that’s two squares around a five on the scorecard.
bryson on the day: from 2 to 4.
hole 3 – par 4
when is a 340 yard drive only 327 yards? When there is a slope in front of the green, like there is at Peach Blossom, the third hole at Augusta National.
bryson’s tee shot landed in the middle of the fairway and rolled 10 yards from the green before gravity pulled it downhill to 27 yards from the hole on the 350-yard par 4. However, after hitting his pitch shot to 14 feet, Dechambeau missed his birdie putt and had to settle for another par.
At this point, there are three golfers tied for the lead at 4-under: Hideki Matsuyama (up to 16), Webb Simpson (up to 14), and Marc Leishman (up to 7).
bryson on the day: until the 3rd.
hole 2 – par 5
From the tee on the 575-yard par 5, players want to avoid the fairway bunker to the right, hit the downslope, and then attack. Dechambeau hit his driver 345 yards, but he went off the fairway. he dodged through the trees and the ball came to rest on the pine straw near some azalea bushes. with the hole cut to the center back of the green, he couldn’t play directly to the flag. instead, dechambeau hit a short iron and to the right of the green, leaving himself a good angle towards the hole. The problem was that he rolled into the first cut, which reduced the spin the Dechambeau could impart on his pitching shot, and his third shot stopped at the neck 15 feet above the hole. he missed his birdie putt from there (and looked disgusted when he slid past the left hole) and hit for par.
It’s early, but it’s two drivers and two lost fairways to the left. On the PGA Tour, Bryson ranked 133rd in accuracy off the tee (58 percent). if he’s going to attack the par 5s, he needs to hit the fairway.
bryson on the day: until the 2nd.
hole 1 – par 4
last november, before the start of the first fall masters, bryson said that for him, the par at augusta national was actually 67, not 72. he was ready to dominate the field and, following his victory in the winged foot , winning a second consecutive major championship. But things didn’t go exactly as planned for the US. uu. reigning. open champion and ended up finishing t-34.
The first hole at Augusta National is often overlooked. when dechambeau teed off, only one player had birdied today, marc leishman. Dechambeau’s first tee shot went 283 yards and was gone. the ball bounced once on the second cut and then came to rest on the grass near a tree. From 167 yards, he hit an approach shot with a short iron to the right of the green, then deftly launched the ball 5 feet and then made his putt for par.
bryson on the day: until the 1st.