BEDMINSTER, New Jersey – The last time Bryson DeChambeau appeared at a golf tournament in the New York metropolitan area, he shot a final-round 67 at Winged Foot to win the U.S. Open by six strokes. He was the only player to break par in the final round, and he joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only three players ever to claim the NCAA title, the U.S. Amateur title and the U.S. Open.
DeChambeau has a knack for making golf history, and he arrives for the LIV Golf event that begins Friday at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in northern New Jersey fresh off another round with destiny. DeChambeau became only the second pro golfer in history to shoot a 58, helping him to a six-stroke victory in the LIV Golf event at The Greenbrier in West Virginia and tying the pro record set by Jim Furyk when he finished fifth in the 2016 Travelers Championship in Wethersfield, Ct. There have been a dozen rounds of 59 shot in major pro golf history.
After beginning his round with birdies on six of the first seven holes, DeChambeau actually bogeyed the par-3 eighth hole. He then birdied three of his next four holes, made two routine pars and then finished his round with four straight birdies. On his final hole, DeChambeau was just trying to two-putt from 40 feet for a par and a 59, but when the long putt dropped for his 13th birdie and a 58, the whole course went wild, including DeChambeau’s fellow competitors.
Anirban Lahiri, who is DeChambeau’s teammate on The Crushers LIV Golf team, was in the scoring tent and described the scene this way: “We’re like, ‘Oh, he’s just got to two-putt.’ Nobody is even thinking 58 because 59 is the magic number – 58 is just a unicorn. It’s a myth. Then, when that goes in, everybody in scoring is just going berserk…These are the other 46 guys he just whupped celebrating someone who just made a bomb for a 58.”
During their Bedminster press conferences on Wednesday, defending champion Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia both said the most amazing thing about DeChambeau’s final-round 58 is that it was preceded by a second-round 61. That 119 total for consecutive rounds is the lowest in major pro golf history, an average of 59.5 per round. DeChambeau is in a threesome with Dustin Johnson and Stenson starting on No. 1 for the 1:15 p.m. shotgun start.
Prior to his Wednesday news conference, DeChambeau spoke to a clinic of junior golfers and told them how Tiger Woods once helped him with the mental part of the game by explaining how top players focus on themselves “to create a mental bubble where it’s you and you alone.”
This was DeChambeau’s first LIV Golf win after eight wins on the PGA Tour, so he obviously has been in the zone before. But his two-day scoring binge was like nothing he ever had experienced.
“I don’t even understand it still, first off, because I don’t know if it’s ever been done,” DeChambeau said. “I can’t remember a time when anybody did that. It was a weird frame of mind. I shot 61, and I was like, ‘That was cake.’ That didn’t feel like it was that difficult. I feel like I can do the same thing the next day.
“Obviously, you’ve got to make putts and bad breaks can happen. But it was a perfect scenario. I really didn’t get unlucky, and I hit every shot the way I wanted for two days. Literally, a perfect storm.”
Now the question is whether U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson will choose top LIV Golf players like DeChambeau and PGA champion Brooks Koepka for the team. DeChambeau had a 2-0-1 record in the last Ryder Cup.
“I feel I’m a top-10 player,” DeChambeau said. “If I get picked, fantastic. If I don’t, I’ll be watching and rooting for Team USA because I respect and appreciate those players who are representing our country more than a PGA Tour or LIV thing.”
DeChambeau said he lately has felt like a “brute” on the golf course because his game is so hot, but he doesn’t expect the game to come as easily at Bedminster compared to Greenbrier. “This is a beast of a golf course,” DeChambeau said. “It is a major championship venue, the way the golf course is set up in regards to the rough and the tightness of the fairways. I don’t know if in the 50s is going to be possible this week.”
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