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“I was swinging the driver good all day, (and on nine) I was like, you know what, let’s just see (if I can get him), and just mess around and it was more of a joke afterwards,” Champ grinned.
“I got him but he would have flown me by probably 20 yards … but I got him on the roll, so there’s a difference, there’s a difference.”
Two seasons ago Champ was number one on TOUR in driving distance but DeChambeau relegated him to number two last season after his hulking transformation.
“I got it past him a couple times, he got it past me a couple times and I’m going to try and hit it harder tomorrow,” DeChambeau joked right back.
Champ plays a low bullet ball flight while DeChambeau plays a high ball, or “moon ball” game as he calls it. Whatever you call it, it is impressive.
“It was fun, it was awesome to play with all of them … amazing to see the power that’s out here now. I think that’s a testament to the new generation that’s coming up and what it’s going to be like in the future,” DeChambeau said.
As is habit for the seven-time TOUR winner DeChambeau was looking to get to the range post round after claiming he “heel thinned” a number of shots. But he had to make a few stops first. He was flagged for a random drug test and also had to find fellow competitor Chesson Hadley.
Hadley was part of the group ahead and was standing over a three-foot putt on the par-4 seventh hole when DeChambeau’s tee shot bounded out of the rough and on to the putting surface behind him. The green is obscured from the tee as a dogleg left but DeChambeau cut the corner. According to ShotLink records he is the first player to ever drive that green.
“I felt incredibly bad about that, I had no idea that they were on the green. They were ahead of us all day and I felt like they were off the green because of the time that we took on a few of the holes before that,” DeChambeau said.
“So that was my mistake and I felt really bad. I think it was Chesson, I have got to go find him and apologize … but it was fun to hit it to 15 feet.”
Hadley wasn’t concerned by the incident.
“The only thing that was hurt was my ego. I’m glad I made the putt though because if I missed it would have totally been his fault,” Hadley laughed in jest.
That kind of shoulder shrugging laugh is kind of all anyone can do right now as DeChambeau continues to crush the ball and make more than his fair share of putts. If he continues to do it over the next three rounds he will prove near impossible to beat.
“When I’m playing great golf I feel like I’ve got a great chance to win every week,” DeChambeau said. “I feel like I have my golf swing under control and am making a lot of putts. I feel like I can shoot low on a lot of golf courses and usually that wins tournaments.”
Yes. It usually does.
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Source: PGA tour
