Bryson DeChambeau’s incredible physical transformation has had tongues wagging since he debuted his new physique at the first event of the Tour’s restarted schedule, the Charles Schwab Challenge.
After posting four top 8 finishes in four weeks, including a win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, DeChambeau is teeing it up at this week’s Memorial Tournament, after taking last week off. And it turns out, the long bomber is still a hot topic, as both Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods were asked to weigh in on DeChambeau’s extreme makeover during their pre-tournament press conferences.
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“I personally have not seen him in person,” Nicklaus said. “I’ve seen him on television, and he’s a much bigger man. He was tall to start with, but if he’s carrying 250 pounds, that’s a lot of weight for Bryson. But he doesn’t look heavy, he just looks big.
“Bryson’s golf swing is not a fluid golf swing that really whips the club into the ball,” Nicklaus continued. “Bryson’s golf swing is pretty much pretty firm going back and firm coming through with a lot of body rotation. It’s a little different than a lot of guys. And can you believe the power he’s getting from that? I mean, it’s unbelievable. I want to watch him play a little bit. I’d like to see what he does and how he’s actually doing that because he’s obviously doing something right. The ball is going a long way.”
As a player who once held a huge distance advantage over the rest of his Tour peers, Tiger Woods knows a thing or two about the advantages of thumping the ball off the tee, and he has nothing but praise for DeChambeau’s gains.
“What Bryson has done is no easy task,” Woods said. “He’s figured out a way to increase distance and maximize his efficiency with not only his driver but all of his clubs. He’s gotten stronger, faster, bigger, and has created more speed. More importantly, he’s hitting it further, but let’s look at the fact that he’s hitting it as straight as he is. That’s part of the most difficult thing to do. So the fact that he’s figured that out and has been able to rein in the foul balls to me has been equally as impressive as his gains off the tee distance-wise.”
Woods and DeChambeau are both playing in featured groups on Thursday and Friday, with Woods teeing it up alongside Rory McIlroy and Brooks Kopeka, and DeChambeau with Collin Morikawa and Patrick Cantlay.