I have always tried to resist the temptation to fall for Bryson DeChambeau. From the moment he received the Silver Cup for being the leading amateur at Danny Willett’s 2016 Masters, there was something about DeChambeau that irritated. Even the name. Full version: Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau. With a name like that, a little humility wouldn’t be out of place. But that was the one thing Bryson didn’t have, a little humility.
It wasn’t just his certainty that he was born to do amazing things. I didn’t like his uniformly long irons, nor the thick grips. Physics was his major at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and it was here that he prepared for the task of proving to the rest of us that golf was science, not art. Why plot your way around a great golf course when the straightforward option is to overpower it?
In the beginning, he wanted to hit the ball further than anyone in history. To achieve this, he got bigger and bigger. His tee shots brought to mind PG Wodehouse’s description of a swing the famous author didn’t much care for, dismissing it as “an act of sickening violence”. The problem was that DeChambeau was very good.
DeChambeau, pictured in his trademark flatcap after his US Open win in 2020, initially rubbed fans and fellow players up the wrong way with his perceived petulance
EPA
At the US Open in 2020 he drove the ball prodigious distances, putted like a dream and won by six shots. Still, he was hard to like. That same year he argued with rules officials about his ball being in bounds when clearly it wasn’t. This happened at the Memorial Tournament. Two weeks later, at the St Jude Invitational, he tried to get relief after observing “red ants” in the area of his ball. That dispensation would have come under the law applicable to a player at risk of serious injury from a dangerous animal. The rules official told him to just play the shot.
In June 2022 DeChambeau joined the LIV Tour, having previously indicated he was staying on the PGA Tour. The Saudis paid him $125 million (£92.9 million) and he didn’t mind admitting it was a business decision. Like every other defector, DeChambeau said he wanted to grow the game and, unlike every other defector, he has grown the game.
Better than any of his contemporaries, he has survived the move to the unloved and modestly supported LIV Tour, claiming a second major championship at the 2024 US Open and building a huge following (2.5 million) for his innovative YouTube channel. His four-year deal with LIV Golf ends next year and he says he is ready to re-sign. If LIV Golf ever taps into DeChambeau’s popularity and uses his ability to build a golf audience, the PGA Tour will have a serious rival.
DeChambeau has played a round with President Trump for his “Break 50” YouTube series
JONATHAN FERREY/GETTY
If you’re beginning to think that I’ve changed my view about DeChambeau, you’re catching the drift. Last week I found myself actually looking forward to watching his 18-hole scramble with the NBA superstar Steph Curry. Part of the attraction here is that Curry is not just one of the greatest ever players in his sport but the player who single-handedly changed basketball. He was uncannily accurate and a master of three-point shots.
Through Curry’s 16 seasons with Golden State Warriors, the average number of three-point attempts per game in the league has almost doubled. When Curry entered the NBA, the average number for each team was 18.1. The average now is a touch over 35. Everyone acknowledges that it was Curry’s brilliance that brought this change. He is the greatest shooter ever. There are no arguments about this.
The episode featuring Curry, left, was viewed 3.6 million times in three days
YOUTUBE
Curry’s backstory is compelling. He is the son of Dell Curry, who was an exceptional shooter throughout his career. Dell was also the de facto coach to Steph and his younger brother, Seth. Dell taught them how to shoot. Part of the training was that neither of the boys was allowed to shoot for three points until their tenth birthday. Dell believed that to shoot straight, the shooter had to keep his elbow tucked in and generally those under the age of ten didn’t have the strength to do that and clear the front rim. The boys, naturally, were ultra-competitive and during intensely demanding training sessions Steph wouldn’t allow his brother to better him. Seth also plays for the Warriors and is also an excellent shooter.
Playing a two-man scramble from the forward tees, the challenge for DeChambeau and Curry was to break 50 for 18 holes. A scramble is where both players tee off, choose the better-placed ball and then hit their approaches from that position and keep doing this until they hole out. They needed 13 birdies and five eagles to beat 50. DeChambeau had tried to achieve this with a variety of celebrity partners but couldn’t do it.
Curry, though, isn’t just a basketball superstar. He is also outstanding at golf. About to hit off on the 1st tee, Curry was clearly excited. “I’ve watched so many episodes of Break 50 and now it’s my turn to take on the challenge with good old Bryson,” he said. The first hole was a 320-yard par-four. There were two cross-bunkers 20 yards short of a green guarded by two green-side bunkers.
It was Curry who hit first. Smooth, straight and wonderfully long. He carried the cross-bunkers comfortably and screamed “Come on!” as his ball landed, then uttered a quieter, heartfelt “Please!” as it rolled towards the cup. The ball came to a stop four feet from the flagstick. “I can’t even speak now, holy crap,” said DeChambeau, who had little chance of bettering that drive. His shot was short and right.
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Curry rolled in the eagle putt and the quest to beat 50 had the right start. On the par-three 3rd hole, Curry hit his tee shot to within eight feet. “He might even beat me today,” DeChambeau said to one of the production people.
Overhearing that, Curry corrected him. “We are together, what are you talking about.”
“I know, I’m messing,” DeChambeau said.
But he wasn’t. DeChambeau knew every viewer would compare them. They both played well to shoot 49 and Curry may have been marginally better than his partner. Most remarkable was the fact that when both players used the driver, Curry was often straighter and longer than DeChambeau. It was hugely entertaining and there were parts of the production that were clearly superior to the TV coverage of the PGA Tour.
DeChambeau knows what he’s doing with his YouTube channel. At one point he asked Curry about the most important advice he’d received from Dell, his father. “Treating people the right way,” Curry said. Three days after the footage appeared, his round with Curry had been watched 3.6 million times. That number will substantially increase. Truly, DeChambeau is growing the game.
As for Steph Curry, there is a case for considering him the most gifted athlete on the planet.