Bryson DeChambeau


Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. In 2015, he became the fifth player in history to win both the NCAA Division I championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year.

Amateur career

Born in Modesto, California, to John Howard Aldrich DeChambeau and Janet Louise Druffel, DeChambeau moved to Clovis, east of Fresno, at age seven. He attended Clovis East High School and won the California State Junior Championship at age 16 in 2010. DeChambeau graduated in 2012 and accepted a scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, majoring in physics.
In June 2015, he became the first SMU Mustang to win the NCAA individual championship, recording a score of 280 to win by one stroke. In August, he won the U.S. Amateur title, defeating Derek Bard 7 & 6 in the 36-hole final. He became the fifth player to win both the NCAA and U.S. Amateur titles in the same year, joining Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, and Ryan Moore.
DeChambeau made his PGA Tour debut as an amateur in June 2015 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic near Memphis, Tennessee, and finished in 45th place. He played in his first major championship at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, but missed the cut by four strokes. DeChambeau was unable to defend his NCAA title in 2016 after the SMU athletic department was handed a postseason ban by the NCAA. He decided to forgo his senior season to play in a number of events before turning professional. At the 2015 Australian Masters in November, DeChambeau was runner-up with John Senden and Andrew Evans, two shots behind the winner Peter Senior. He was the low amateur at the Masters in 2016 and tied for 21st place.

Professional career

Immediately after the Masters in mid-April 2016, DeChambeau turned professional and signed a long-term agreement with Cobra-Puma Golf. He made his pro debut days later at the RBC Heritage in South Carolina and tied for fourth, earning over $259,000. The decision to turn professional meant the forfeiture of his exemptions to the U.S. Open at Oakmont and Open Championship at Royal Troon; he qualified his way into the U.S. Open, tied for fifteenth place for over $152,000, and improved his world ranking to 148. Despite the strong start, DeChambeau did not initially earn enough to qualify for a PGA Tour card, but had enough to earn entry into the Web.com Tour Finals. His first professional win was the DAP Championship which also earned him a PGA Tour Card for the 2017 PGA Tour. On July 16, 2017, DeChambeau earned his first PGA Tour victory by winning the John Deere Classic by a single stroke over Patrick Rodgers. He carded a round of 65 in the final round to win his maiden title in his 40th start on tour. The win coming the week before, gained DeChambeau a place in the 2017 Open Championship, where he missed the cut after rounds of 76–77. In 2017, Dechambeau gifted U.S. President Donald J. Trump golf clubs valued at $750.
On June 3, 2018, DeChambeau won the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, in a sudden-death playoff against Kyle Stanley and An Byeong-hun, after the three finished regulation play tied at −15. After Stanley bogeyed the first hole of sudden death, DeChambeau then proceeded to win with a birdie on the second hole, giving him his second win on the tour. On August 26, 2018, he won The Northern Trust for his first playoff victory; in the process, he established a new record for the tournament when held at the Ridgewood Country Club, with a score of 266, besting the old Ridgewood record of 270, which was set in 2014 by Hunter Mahan. The following week, he won at the Dell Technologies Championship played at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts, with a final score of −16, two shots clear of Justin Rose. This put him over 2000 points ahead of the second place player, Dustin Johnson, in the FedEx Cup rankings. This margin secured him top seeding at The Tour Championship, regardless of his finish at the BMW Championship. This also marked his fourth win on tour, third for the year, and second during the playoffs. At the Tour Championship, DeChambeau finished 19th out of 30 participants. As a result, he fell to 3rd in the FedEx Cup, winning $2,000,000. In September 2018, DeChambeau was named as a captain's pick by Jim Furyk for the United States team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Europe defeated the U.S. team by 17½ points to 10½. DeChambeau went 0–3–0. He lost his singles match against Alex Norén.
On November 4, 2018, DeChambeau won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. The win was worth $1,260,000. The win brought him to number 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking. On January 27, 2019, DeChambeau won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, UAE. DeChambeau claimed his maiden European Tour title by producing a closing 64 to win the tournament by seven shots. In December 2019, DeChambeau played on the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. DeChambeau went 0–1–1 and halved his Sunday singles match against Adam Hadwin.
Beginning in late 2019, DeChambeau set out to gain more muscle and weight in order to increase his swing speed and hit the ball farther. He added 20 pounds before the tour's break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and another 20 during the break. When the tour resumed, he quickly moved to the lead in driving distance. On July 5, 2020, DeChambeau won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, Michigan by three strokes over Matthew Wolff. In the final round, DeChambeau shot a 7-under 65 at Detroit Golf Club, birdieing four of the first seven holes and closing with three straight. He finished at a career-best 23-under 265. DeChambeau came into the week with six straight top-eight finishes and was the only player with top-10s in the first three events after the restart from the coronavirus.
Through mid-2020, DeChambeau has earned over $18,000,000 while winning six times on the PGA Tour.

Arguments with rules officials

DeChambeau has been involved in several notorious interactions with rules officials. In the second round of the 2020 Memorial Tournament, DeChambeau's 2nd shot at the 15th went under a fence and was apparently out of bounds. He attempted to argue that only part of the ball was out of bounds, and he should be allowed to play it, but PGA Tour rules official Ken Tackett ruled against him. DeChambeau asked for a ruling from a second official, who confirmed Tackett's ruling as correct. DeChambeau went on to shoot a quintuple-bogey 10 on the hole, and missed the cut.
Just two weeks later at the St. Jude Invitational, DeChambeau's tee shot at the 7th stopped on top of some small sticks near the base of a tree. He attempted to argue that there were "red ants" in the immediate area of the ball, and asked for a free drop under the rule that allows a drop "when a dangerous animal near a ball could cause serious physical injury to the player". He spent nearly three minutes attempting to convince the official, but ultimately had to play the ball where it lay. He finished the hole with a double-bogey 6.

Unique clubs

All of DeChambeau's irons and wedges are cut to exactly the same length:. Their lie and bounce angle are also the same; only the lofts are different. In addition to the single-length concept, his clubs are unusual for their extremely upright lie angle. DeChambeau keeps the club on the same plane throughout his swing and does not turn his wrists during his swing. In 2011, at the suggestion of his instructor Mike Schy, DeChambeau switched to JumboMax Grips, the largest grips commercially available. The larger grips allow DeChambeau to hold the grips in his palms and not his fingers.

Amateur wins

Source:

Professional wins (8)

PGA Tour wins (6)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runner-up
1Jul 16, 2017John Deere Classic66-65-70-65=266−181 stroke Patrick Rodgers
2Jun 3, 2018Memorial Tournament69-67-66-71=273−15Playoff An Byeong-hun, Kyle Stanley
3Aug 26, 2018The Northern Trust68-66-63-69=266−184 strokes Tony Finau
4Sep 3, 2018Dell Technologies Championship70-68-63-67=268−162 strokes Justin Rose
5Nov 4, 2018Shriners Hospitals for Children Open66-66-65-66=263−211 stroke Patrick Cantlay
6Jul 5, 2020Rocket Mortgage Classic66-67-67-65=265−233 strokes Matthew Wolff

PGA Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
12018Memorial Tournament An Byeong-hun, Kyle StanleyWon with birdie on second extra hole
Stanley eliminated with par on first hole

European Tour wins (1)

Web.com Tour wins (1)

No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMargin of
victory		Runners-up
1Sep 11, 2016DAP Championship64-70-68-71=273−7Playoff Julián Etulain, Andres Gonzales,
Nicholas Lindheim

Web.com Tour playoff record
No.YearTournamentOpponentsResult
12016DAP Championship Julián Etulain, Andres Gonzales,
Nicholas Lindheim		Won with par on second extra hole
Etulain and Lindheim eliminated with birdie on first hole

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.
LA = Low amateur
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur
Professional