Read GOLF’s Tour Confidential for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they analyze the sport’s hottest topics. This week, we’ll be covering one important topic each night to coincide with the PGA Championship at Aronimink.
Bryson DeChambeau finished 76-71 at the PGA Championship but missed the cut, marking the first time in his career that he missed a weekend at both the Masters and PGA in the same season. What’s going on with Bryson? And is there any reason to think the uncertainty in his current league, LIV Golf, affected this latest performance?
Sean Zak, Senior Writer (@sean_zak): It’s really puzzling, especially considering his form, which has seen him win back-to-back LIV events since March. I think what we’re seeing from Bryson at this point is increased volatility. When he’s on, he’s on. But when you’re off, you’re off all the time — mainly in the majors, where there’s more pressure and the tests are more difficult. It reminds me of the British Open Championship in Portrush last summer. There he played his worst golf of the week in the harshest winds and shot a 78. Then, when the situation eased, he shot 65-68-64, making him the best golfer in the tournament. I think LIV’s uncertainty adds a lot to his mental plate, but I don’t really expect it to last too long. I don’t think he was as focused during this particular eight-week period, which included a disappointing Masters, some totally unexpected LIV news, additional off-course drama, and a very difficult golf course. In less than a month, he’ll find himself in a solid, fast and brutal U.S. Open test, and it looks like it’s really pulling something out of his golf ability over the years.
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Josh Sens, Senior Writer (@joshsens): Not much has gone right in DeChambeau’s recent games. Inconsistent driving. Poor distance control on approach. Play calmly around the green. That was surprising at the Masters, especially considering how well he’s performed in majors and the form he showed at LIV earlier this year. But this week wasn’t all that shocking. Because he was clearly exploring it in pre-tournament practice. It’s hard to score well in a major championship setup if your entire bag is out of sync. Uncertainty about LIV? Recent turmoil can’t have helped his thinking. Of course, it’s tempting to ask if all the energy he’s been putting into YouTube golf is appropriate for a tournament game. To Sean’s point, it wouldn’t be too surprising if he got back on track in time for Shinnecock.
Josh Berhow, Editor-in-Chief (@Josh_Berhow): I think Sean is right that golf is unpredictable and when things go wrong for Bryson, it can snowball. You can tell by his attitude. It’s been a tough couple of days for most of the players in the field, so it would be easy to say he lost after this missed cut, but in reality he put together a decent few rounds, three strokes away from ending the weekend, and this was not an argument at all. I think he has played well in recent weeks and is putting pressure on himself to represent LIV in a positive way. And in some ways, he could be the ultimate free agent this offseason. Maybe he’s putting too much pressure on himself to prove it. That said, don’t we all put more pressure on ourselves during major week?
Nick Piastowski, Senior Editor (@nickpia): Yeah, I definitely think what happened around LIV had a lot to do with DeChambeau’s play. But golf is also strange. One week it’s good, the next week it’s bad. I think he will compete at the US Open. There may also be injury issues. At last week’s LIV event, DeChambeau said after the first round: “Unfortunately (my body) is struggling a little bit. My wrist is feeling better. I’ve had problems with my shoulder since the Ryder Cup. I don’t know what happened. I’ve been training. I’ve been treating it. We’ve been working on it. We’ve done a lot of things, we’ve had MRIs. Everything is fine. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in pain. When we won.” Those two events[at LIV]made me wake up every day and think, oh, am I going to hurt today? I’m having a little trouble understanding that. ”
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