In a bizarre twist, Bryson DeChambeau’s fifth PGA Tour victory was nearly derailed over the weekend by the Vegas Golden Knights. But DeChambeau fought through a hand injury he sustained during an appearance at the local hockey arena en route to a one-shot victory at the Shriners on Sunday.
On Saturday night, the Golden Knights brought in DeChambeau as a special guest. He came in to pump up the crowd after the second period and tackled his role with enthusiasm. Too much enthusiasm, as it turned out.
“I went a little too hard on the air horn,” DeChambeau said after his win. “I think that’s what it’s called. Yeah, and I ripped part of my hand off, which is nice.”
It’s easy to laugh anything off after a win. But watch the video below. Just as DeChambeau finishes cranking the team’s pump-up siren you can see him look down in concern at his extremely valuable right hand, which he had just damaged.
Bryson DeChambeau…..
Ringing sirens one day
Winning the Shriners Open the next
🙌👏 @b_dechambeau pic.twitter.com/1TWr7awKxD
— x-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) November 5, 2018
“I was freaking out,” he acknowledged later. “It was like a blister that ripped off just a little bit bigger than a dime size on my hand.” When he woke up on Sunday, he tried to remedy the situation, with mixed success. DeChambeau applied Nu-Skin, but it over-dried his palms.
“Then I opened my hand and it cracked and split,” he said. “So now I’m like, wow — I’m really in some doo-doo; not in a good place.”
DeChambeau applied moisturizer, which helped. “We did that and it started feeling better, and then the guys at the player performance center were able to wrap me up pretty nicely. It was manageable. Every time I clenched my fist a little bit too hard or hit a shot that was a little bit too steep I definitely felt a pull on it.”
But you’d hardly have known it from watching. The 25-year-old took down the win with a five-under 66 punctuated by a deal-sealing eagle putt that brought the house down at No. 16. Oh, and the Golden Knights won, too.
“Hey, I gave that thing a whirl and got the crowd pumped up for the third quarter and they went on to win, so more power to them and more power to me, I guess,” DeChambeau concluded. (It’s a period, not a quarter, but we know what he meant.)
“I won this week too, today, so it’s not a bad deal.”
