CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bryson DeChambeau left Augusta National last month frustrated over his final-round meltdown at the Masters and perplexed by his poor iron play.
The burly 6-foot-1, 220-pound DeChambeau has put that disappointing loss behind him and feels he’s fixed the iron issue — or at least put a Band-Aid on it — heading into this week’s PGA Championship. He enters Quail Hollow confident after following up a second-place finish at the LIV Tour's Mexico City event with a win two weeks ago in South Korea.
Now he looks to continue his recent run of success at major championships, where he has replaced Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm as LIV's best chance to win.
In 2024, DeChambeau finished tied for sixth at the Masters, then second at the PGA Championship at Valhalla before winning his second U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Despite shooting a final-round 75 at this year’s Masters, he still finished tied for fifth, giving him six top-10 finishes in his past 10 majors.
“I feel like I’ve always had the capacity to play well in major championships and contend consistently,” DeChambeau said. “A lot of things have to go right in majors for you to play well. Your whole game has to be on. So I felt like at Valhalla, especially after Augusta last year, that was the second time (in a row) that I played well in a major, and it kind of gave me that confidence that I could just keep moving forward with that at every major and keep hammering down on majors.”
The second-place finish at Valhalla last year proved huge for his confidence.
“It was more of an assurance of saying, hey, I can do this, and I can do this for a long time, God willing," DeChambeau said. “Valhalla definitely gave me some confidence for the rest of the majors, last year and even this year.”
Now comes another test at Quail Hollow, a course where DeChambeau has limited experience compared to many PGA Tour players.
He's only played here once in the past six years, finishing tied for eighth at the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship before leaving for the LIV Tour. His best finish at Wells Fargo was fourth in 2018. When Justin Thomas won the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, DeChambeau finished tied for 33rd.
The long course certainly plays to DeChambeau's strength off the tee.
“I feel like I’m moving in the right direction with giving myself a lot of multiple chances to win these major championships,” he said.
Despite his success this past month on the LIV Tour, which included shooting 30 on the back nine of the final round at South Korea to win the tournament, DeChambeau still plans to switch irons once they have been produced and delivered.
As of Tuesday, he had not received them.
“My irons weren’t that great, but I played better in Mexico. My irons were really good in Korea. I feel like it’s moving in the right direction,” DeChambeau said. “Let’s hopefully keep it more of the same. If I can do that, I’ll give myself a good chance this week.”
And maybe, just maybe, have a chance to beat Rory McIlroy, who got the best of him in the final pairing at the Masters en route to winning the career Grand Slam.
Early on in the final round, it looked as if it might be DeChambeau's day at Augusta National. But after grabbing sole possession of the lead after two holes, DeChambeau faded fast and shot 75, leaving him four shots behind McIlroy and Justin Rose.
“Hopefully we can have another go at it again like the Masters,” DeChambeau said of McIlroy.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
