Rozner: Innovative Bryson DeChambeau not afraid to go it alone
His only company was the long shadow behind him, the setting sun a warm, but firm reminder the day was growing short and would not offer him many more swings.
It was late Friday and Bryson DeChambeau took his stance on a deserted driving range. Hours after he had completed the second round of the BMW Championship at Conway Farms, the rookie pounded balls into the distance, working quietly on his craft, headphones drowning out the sounds of silence.
There was no caddie or swing coach, no agent or therapist, no volunteers or grounds keepers. Not even someone to get him a bag of balls, just crickets and the occasional passing train. The property was nearly empty, save - perhaps - a confused journalist wandering about.
DeChambeau was alone with his thoughts, just where he wanted to be, the scene an appropriate metaphor for the analytical swing only he chooses to possess on the PGA Tour.
Broaching the subject Saturday after his 2-under third round, I suggested that his evening session on the range seemed rather lonely.
"Sometimes it is," said DeChambeau, who turned 24 Saturday. "I definitely have some good support systems, but at the same time you have to work on it no matter what.
"If I kind of want to be by myself, I've got to work and be by myself, to figure things out for my game. It's an individual sport and you are alone in many ways."
DeChambeau is the ultimate outlier in a game of feel and imagination, where the Phil Mickelsons of the world constantly search for the impossible shot, where creativity is celebrated every weekend.
In his own way, DeChambeau is precisely that, using his imagination, ironically, to take all feel out of his hands and wrists, every iron and wedge in his bag cut to 37.5 inches, the lie and bounce identical, his swing plane always the same.
A physics major at SMU, DeChambeau wanted a swing he could repeat under pressure, so his 7-iron length swings do not require his wrists, distance changing based only on degree of loft.
Those who criticize him believe he has put more pressure on himself with his style. They call him stubborn and arrogant. They question his longevity and his length.
But he won as a rookie in 2017 at the John Deere after becoming in 2015 just the fifth player to win the NCAA and U.S. Amateur championships in the same year.
"It's just what I do. That's how I live my life. I like being analytical," DeChambeau said. "I try to be as precise as possible in every situation.
"Unfortunately, I get it wrong most of the time. (Thomas) Edison took more than 10,000 times to make that light bulb work."
And DeChambeau will keep working, regardless of what anyone thinks of his approach to golf.
"Look, the game is going to evolve and it's going that way anyway," DeChambeau said. "There's going to be more people going with me than against me in the future no matter what. It's just going to be the evolution of the game."
DeChambeau has climbed to No. 87 in the Official World Golf Rankings and he finished 49th in the FedEx Cup after going 8-under at the BMW at Conway Farms, good for T-33.
With a win, a second and $1.8 million in earnings, it was a terrific first season on Tour by any measure. Any win is a good win. Ask Mickelson, who hasn't won in four years.
"It's been a great learning experience, definitely," DeChambeau said. "Over the course of the whole year, I think it was a C+. A good step. I passed. Still, it wasn't my best."
More than merely passing, DeChambeau has survived the physical test with help from Greg Roskopf at the innovative MAT (Muscle Activation Techniques), the mental stresses of standing over a stationary golf ball and the doubters who question all that he does on a golf course.
So if he has to go it alone some days, DeChambeau is just fine with that.
As any scientist will tell you, sometimes it simply has to be that way.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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