![\"Bryson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267425233-e1774275970131.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Bryson DeChambeau might be Rory McIlroy’s stiffest competition at the 2026 Masters.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy is gearing up to defend his Masters<\/a> title at Augusta National Golf Club in a few weeks. The Northern Irishman should feel confident about his chances to repeat considering how poorly some of the top PGA Tour contenders are performing, but LIV Golf\u2019s Bryson DeChambeau<\/a> is quietly emerging as his top challenger.<\/p>\n DeChambeau, who\u2019s probably slipped through the cracks this year if you\u2019re not following LIV Golf overseas, has won back-to-back titles on the rival golf league. The big-hitting American won LIV Golf Singapore in a playoff against Richard T. Lee. Then, a week later, he won LIV Golf South Africa after shooting 26-under par in four rounds and knocking off Jon Rahm in a playoff.<\/p>\n A red-hot DeChambeau<\/a> could be McIlroy\u2019s biggest threat at the 2026 Masters.<\/p>\n Bryson DeChambeau Emerges as a Top Masters Contender GettyBryson DeChambeau is the hottest golfer in the world heading into the Masters.<\/p>\n Many golf fans aren\u2019t up to date on DeChambeau\u2019s form because LIV Golf<\/a> has been playing tournaments in foreign countries that air overnight in the United States. It\u2019s been difficult to follow the Saudi-backed golf league in 2026 unless you\u2019re nocturnal, but the theme of the last few weeks is that DeChambeau has his swagger back.<\/p>\n At LIV Golf Adelaide in February, DeChambeau entered the final round with the lead but had to watch as Anthony Kim\u2019s magical Sunday completed one of the greatest comebacks in golf history. A few weeks later, DeChambeau got his revenge with a win at LIV Golf Singapore with rounds of 67-65-72-66. This past weekend, DeChambeau shot 63-65-64-66 at LIV Golf South Africa and outdueled Rahm down the stretch to win his second individual title in a row.<\/p>\n Through five starts this season, DeChambeau ranks third on the LIV Golf League in driving distance (313.2) and greens in regulation percentage (76.9 percent) and sixth in birdie average (4.95 per round). You could argue he\u2019s not facing the same competition as McIlroy and other stars on the PGA Tour, but he\u2019s still winning against elite talents such as Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann.<\/p>\n Winning back-to-back tournaments on any professional golf league is impressive, and DeChambeau is proving he\u2019ll be a dangerous contender at the first major championship of the year.<\/p>\n Rory McIlroy Should Be Terrified of DeChambeau at the Masters<\/p>\n If McIlroy is going to defend his title at the 2026 Masters<\/a>, he\u2019ll have to go through a confident DeChambeau to do it. The two-time major champion has the current form to challenge McIlroy for a green jacket, and he\u2019s learned how to succeed at Augusta National in recent years.<\/p>\n After finishing T29 or worse in six of his first seven Masters starts, DeChambeau has finished T6 and T5 in his last two trips to Augusta National. The Texas native creates a huge advantage at Augusta with his elite driving distance, and he\u2019s worked hard to improve his chipping and putting around these difficult greens.<\/p>\n Scottie Scheffler is in a slump. Collin Morikawa is injured. Tommy Fleetwood and Xander Schauffele have been inconsistent all season. Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick, despite their strong current form, have proven to be poor Sunday performers while in contention.<\/p>\n The PGA Tour\u2019s top talents aren\u2019t striking fear in McIlroy right now, but DeChambeau sure is.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJack Dougherty<\/a> Jack Dougherty is an established sports journalist covering professional golf, Penn State football and the NFL with a focus on the Philadelphia Eagles for Heavy.com. His work has been featured on GoPSUSports.com, the Centre Daily Times, the Associated Press, Sportscasting, Sportmoney, Pro Golf Now and Yardbarker. More about Jack Dougherty<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Golf\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Bryson DeChambeau might be Rory McIlroy’s stiffest competition at the 2026 Masters. Rory McIlroy is gearing up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-555555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bryson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2267422642-e1774276893501.jpg\")
<\/p>\n