DeChambeau started as a savant, now the Tour’s bad boy

Just a few weeks after Bryson DeChambeau won the delayed 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, as the only player to actually break par, Sports Illustrated’s November 2020 issue came out with DeChambeau on the cover with the feature story headline “Bryson DeChambeau Is Breaking Golf.”

The story details how DeChambeau has created for himself a new – no, revolutionary – and possibly scientific approach to master of the game of golf. Ever since he graduated with a major in physics from SMU in 2016, after winning the U.S. Amateur and the NCAA individual championship, DeChambeau has become a virtual lightning rod to controversy, not only due to his oddball theories but also because of his brash persona.

As if his prodigious driving distance wasn’t enough, he bulked up, packing on over 40 pounds of gristle during the height of the pandemic, now averaging 340 yards off the tee, with a ball speed nearing 200 mph. He does things his own way, from irons all the same length, to an arm-lock putting method, to mentally computing real-time course data such as air density and humidity, intending to control the flight of his golf ball to a nano-fraction, but also risking slow-play infraction and annoying others in the process.

No one questions his raw talent; what has created head-scratching and major media criticism is a combination of his unprofessional behavior and his recent seemingly brain-dead remarks. Is there a new “curse” on Sports illustrated cover profiles? Many old sports writers claim it is real.

For those not especially familiar with DeChambeau’s many documented faux pas let me bring you up to speed. This is by no means a complete dossier.

At the 2020 Rocket Mortgage tournament in Detroit (which he won) DeChambeau berated a cameraman filming him as he slammed his club to the sand after a poor bunker shot, complaining that the TV media ought to always show him in a positive light, and thereby “protect my brand.”

At this year’s Rocket Mortgage, his longtime caddie, Tim Tucker, who has banked an estimated $1 million working for DeChambeau, quit just the day before the first round. Allegedly, the split was mutual. DeChambeau missed the cut. A couple of weeks before losing his caddie, he led the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines with 9 holes to play, and then proceeded to have a meltdown, shooting 44 on the final nine holes, to which he attributed as “bad luck.”

In a mindless, petulant moment he expressed his view that winning majors is 50 percent luck. It was tantamount to telling Jack and Tiger their majors wins were as much through luck as through skill.

There’s more. The ongoing feud with Brooks Koepka; frequent refusal to fulfill his obligation to talk to media; failure to call “fore” after wayward shots. A few weeks ago at the British Open at Royal St. Geroge’s, DeChambeau was quite unhappy for driving his ball into the deep hay so many times that he went off on his Cobra driver. “The driver sucks,” he said to the press.

A Cobra exec rightly fired back saying DeChambeau was acting like an 8-year-old. He should have canceled DeChambeau’s contract. John Hawkins, writing for the online Morning Read blog, opined: “One might surmise that DeChambeau is already paying a high price for his behavior, notably the lack of universal popularity that has emerged from his incessant whining and bratty demeanor.”

While DeChambeau was on the USA team for the Tokyo Olympics, he was ruled out because he tested positive for Covid-19. It wasn’t clear at the time but it has since been verified that he had not had the vaccine. In a public statement (published by Morning Read on Aug. 8) he said: “I’m young enough; I’d rather give it (the vaccine) to people who need it. I don’t need it. I’m a healthy, young individual that will continue to work on my health.”

A cop-out. The fact is there is no shortage of vaccines in the U.S. Meanwhile, he stupidly and arrogantly gave up his chance to represent his country at the Olympics. Maybe he should work on his mental health.

Dr. Charlie Blanchard is a licensed psychologist specializing in sports and leadership. Contact him at docblanchard71@gmail.com.