AUGUSTA, Ga. (Reuters) – Golf’s muscular mad professor Bryson DeChambeau arrived at the Masters with a plan to humble Augusta National but left a chastened man on Sunday, finishing well down the leaderboard after a closing one-over 73.
The big-hitting DeChambeau, who had been the pre-tournament favourite, had boldly suggested that he saw the famous par-72 layout as a par-67 with his prodigious power allowing him reach the par-fives in two shots and some par-fours in one.
But Augusta National let the U.S. Open champion know that it takes more than howitzer drives to walk away with the Green Jacket.
DeChambeau would finish with more double bogeys (two) than eagles (one) with a triple bogey thrown in for good measure in his two-under 286 total a massive 18 shots back of winner Dustin Johnson.
It all went wrong with a double-bogey on his fourth hole of the opening round, the par-five 13th, and it then went downhill from there.
“At the beginning of the week I felt like I could have a great chance to win the tournament if I just played my game,” said DeChambeau, who finished in a tie for 34th. “I made way too many mistakes.
“To still finish it off somewhat decent and be under par for the week is great, even though I feel like I shot 15 over for the week to be honest with you.”
DeChambeau attributed most of his problems to health issues, saying he had spent much of tournament feeling out of sorts.
Out of precaution he underwent another COVID-19 test on Friday that came back negative but still had no answers for his dizziness, saying he was only able to operate at 60%.
“I’ve got to fix whatever is going on up here,” said DeChambeau. “I have no idea. Just dizziness.
“It’s only when I go from down to up, so I can’t even like think and talk right now.
“I go down and up and my brain gets all disoriented. I’ve got to fix that, and once I fix it I’ll be even better than now.
“I’m just going to go back home and relax, take some time off and try and get stronger again but I’ve got to fix this dizziness or whatever is going on.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
