Raise your hands if you had Bryson DeChambeau and Max Homa sharing the stage with Scottie Scheffler entering the weekend at Augusta National.
We didn’t think so.
One of the charming aspects to golf is that the sport is too difficult to be predictable.
Even the best player of our lifetimes, Tiger Woods, lost to Ed Fiori the first time he was in contention and to Nick O’Hern in the PGA Tour’s match play event. The history of the Masters and other majors is replete with surprises the public didn’t see coming, dating back to driving range pro Jack Fleck taking down Ben Hogan in the 1955 US Open.
DeChambeau and Homa aren’t true longshots. They have won 14 PGA Tour events between them, including DeChambeau’s overpowering performance to win the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot. But Homa admits he has mostly been content to be a player/spectator in his previous majors, more happy to have qualified than hungering to make history, and DeChambeau largely disappeared when he joined the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV Golf tour two years ago.
He’s back, and remains an inventive engineer in addition to a supremely powerful, talented member of the wave of NCAA-trained golfers that followed Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas onto the PGA Tour.
What few seemed to know before DeChambeau shot a 65 to take the first-round lead at the Masters is that he is playing with a recently approved, revolutionary set of irons he designed while working with the direct-to-consumer manufacturer Avoda. He had played last week’s LIV event in Miami with Ping i230 irons but successfully lobbied the United States Golf Association for approval of his two-piece 3D-printed irons that were designed with the same time of “bulge” as woods, with the intent to narrow the dispersion of shots hit on the toe or the heel.
Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee has been impressed with how DeChambeau has been hitting greens this week, both in his first-round 66 and second-round 73. He was critical of DeChambeau’s “mad scientest” approach earlier in his career but praises him for using his creativity to attack a weakness in his game rather than to try to find a way to compete in long-driving contests.
The latest engineering is totally on brand. DeChambeau came on tour with a set of irons that all featured the same length shafts, from 4-iron to wedges. But he seems to be making an effort these days to be one of the guys in the clubhouse, rather than seeking out an image as the smartest guy in the room.
He’s infamous around Augusta National for once saying he views it as a par-67 course, not a par-72. He knew he was going to be asked about that comment after being the overnight leader on Thursday and provided a gracious explanation for the brash comment.
“For me, I have a level of respect for this golf course that’s a little bit different than a couple years ago, and clearly today was a great test of golf, and I was able to conquer a very difficult golf course today,” DeChambeau said Thursday. “Regarding the 67 comment, you know, you mess up. I’m not a perfect person. Everybody messes up. You learn from your mistakes, and that was definitely one.”
At 33, Homa is three years older than DeChambeau. The native of Valencia, Calif., was viewed more as a talented sparring partner and wingman but has climbed to 11th in the world rankings, stacking up six wins in PGA Tour events and turning in five top-25 finishes in eight tournaments this year.
He stood strong in Friday winds that timeless Masters commentator Steve Melnyk said put players in “uncharted waters.” His one-under 71 followed a 67 in the first round, which included a strong stretch of play when the suspended tournament resumed Friday morning.
Homa has never finished better than 43rd in the Masters and turned in his best finish in a major with a tie for 10th in the 2023 Open Championship. He said his own play has been almost secondary this week to playing alongside Woods, who set a record by making the Masters cut for the 24th time in a row.
“I’ve enjoyed myself over the last two days as a fan with a slightly better seat,” Homa said.
The ancient saying is that the Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday. But Saturday won’t be a bad watch given the characters in the mix.
Both DeChambeau and Homa have distinguished themselves with both their ball-striking and putting. But it’s worth noting that only Scheffler and Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard have hit the ball better than DeChambeau and Homa in the first two rounds (stats from datagolf.com)
We shouldn’t be surprised if they can remain in the picture until Sunday afternoon. It’s anything except a fluke that they’ve out themselves into a highly intriguing picture.
Golf WRX Bryson DeChambeau fired an opening-round 7-under 65 at Augusta National, hitting an impressive 15 of 18 greens in regulation in the process. Golf’s mad scientist’s play grabbed headlines and so too did his equipment. In place of the Ping i230 irons he had in the bag last week for LIV Golf’s Miami event, DeChambeau is gaming a prototype 5-PW set of irons from little-known direct-to-consumer manufacturer Avoda.
Founded by Tom Bailey, also a Mike Schy student like Bryson DeChambeau, Avoda Golf is a direct-to-consumer golf equipment company that currently manufactures both single and variable-length irons in one model that are available for pre-order.
What irons is Bryson DeChambeau playing?
Per multiple reports, DeChambeau is playing a custom-designed set of single-length irons that incorporate bulge and roll into the face design. The two-piece 3D-printed irons were reportedly only approved for play by the USGA this week, according to Golfweek’s Adam Schupak.
Regarding the irons, DeChambeau told Golf Channel the irons’ performance on mishits was the determining factor in putting them in play this week. “When I mishit on the toe or the heel,” DeChambeau said. “It seems to fly a lot straighter for me and that’s what has allowed me to be more comfortable over the ball.”
What can we tell about the design of the clubs?
These days, it is a little hard to speculate on what is under the hood with so many hollow body irons. DeChambeau’s irons look to be hollow on the lower section as they do flare back a decent amount. That “muscle” on the back also looks to be fairly low on the iron head, but we can assume that is progressive through the set, moving up higher in the short irons.
A screw out on the toe is probably used to seal up the hollow cavity and used as a weight to dial in the swing weight of the club. From pictures, it is hard to tell but the sole looks to have a little curve from heel to toe while also having some sharper angles on them. A more boxy and sharper toe section looks to be the design that suits Bryson’s eye based on the irons he has gravitated toward recently.
What are bulge and roll, again?
Two types of curvature in a club face, traditionally incorporated only in wood design. Bulge is heel-toe curvature. Roll is crown-sole curvature. Both design elements are designed to mitigate gear effect on off-center strikes and produce shots that finish closer to the intended target line. (GolfTec has an excellent overview of bulge and roll with some handy GIFs for the visual learner)
What else is in DeChambeau’s bag?
Accompanying his traditional Sik putter, Bryson builds his set with a Ping Glide 4.0 wedges, a Krank Formula Fire driver and 5-wood, and a TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver, all with LA Golf graphite shafts.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — It took Bryson DeChambeau four years and 13 rounds to finally break par at Augusta National.
His par.
Or at least, what he once proclaimed to be his par.
DeChambeau birdied his first three holes Thursday, made five more over his last seven, and opened with a 65 to take the early lead at the Masters. It was his best round ever in the season’s first major, and only his second in the 60s since the once-brash, always-outspoken DeChambeau ruffled a few feathers among the green jackets.
Back in 2020, a bulked-up DeChambeau declared his power had rendered the par-72 layout a par 67, because he could reach Augusta National’s four par-5s in two and the short, par-4 third hole was reachable off the tee.
The comment came off as arrogance run amok, and DeChambeau got some comeuppance when he tied for 34th that year.
The former U.S. Open champion admitted Thursday that he has taken plenty of flack for it.
“For me,” DeChambeau said, “I have a level of respect for this golf course that’s a little bit different than a couple years ago, and clearly today was a great test of golf, and I was able to conquer a very difficult golf course today.
“Regarding the 67 comment,” DeChambeau continued, “you know, you mess up. I’m not a perfect person. Everybody messes up. You learn from your mistake, and that was definitely one.”
To be sure, DeChambeau is older and wiser — a whole lot richer, too, thanks to his jump from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf — than he was four years ago. He has overcome injuries, including a fractured bone in his left wrist, and struggled with tweaks to his swing as he shed some of that muscle for a more lithe, athletic build that just might hold up better over time.
Things finally clicked again for the 30-year-old last year in the LIV event at The Greenbrier, when DeChambeau shot 61-58 on the weekend to win going away. He won again later in the year at Rich Harvest Farms near Chicago.
“The thing about Bryson — people don’t talk about it — he’s always been one of the best putters in the world,” explained Gary Woodland, who played with him Thursday. “When he drives it like he did today — I mean, he drove it really good — and he makes putts, he’s obviously very good. It was a clinic. It was impressive. He didn’t get out of position hardly at all.”
As well as things are going on the course for DeChambeau, they seem to be trending in the right direction off it.
“He’s one of the smartest people I know, and one of the most talented players I know, and probably one of the hardest working,” said Phil Mickelson, who plays with him frequently on the LIV tour. “He has found a way to play golf that is different and unique from anybody I’ve ever seen play it. He believes and knows that it gives him opportunities and advantages, and he has got the commitment and the self-assurance to not care what anybody else says.”
People do care what DeChambeau has to say, though.
He was among the first wave of PGA Tour stars that chased guaranteed Saudi money with LIV Golf, and he remains one of the breakaway league’s biggest cheerleaders. But he also realizes the resulting schism within professional golf has been detrimental to the sport, and he’s joined Rory McIlroy and others in pressing for some sort of reconciliation.
“Look, how do we make this work for both sides? How do we make this work for the fans?” DeChambeau asked. “I personally think that we could figure that out quickly if we just sit down and hash it out for a week.”
Leave it to the golfer nicknamed “the Scientist” — a deep thinker deep in confidence — to believe such a complex problem can be solved so easily.
“I was always different growing up,” DeChambeau admitted, “and I learned pretty quickly not everybody is going to agree with you or like what you’re doing. And when somebody doesn’t agree with me, I respectfully say, ‘OK, appreciate that, but I think it’s this way, and we’re just going to agree to disagree.’ And that’s kind of the way I’ve taken it over the past —- well, my whole life.
“You can’t figure everything out,” DeChambeau added with a smile, “and you’re not always going to be right. Respecting that, respecting Father Time and understanding that — enjoy the ride. Smell the roses.”