Why Justin Thomas once defended Bryson DeChambeau after ‘laughable’ criticism

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Bryson DeChambeau has had his fair share of controversies in his short career so far but he’s also never been shy of backing either.

DeChambeau’s emergence into the game and his scientific approach to green reading, coupled with the tremendous power he possesses, mean he was always going to attract attention.

Over the years, DeChambeau has used those skills to good effect, winning 14 times around the world, including two majors.

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Nevertheless, he’s also had critics. The likes of Sir Nick Faldo have never been shy of voicing their concerns in the American’s direction, while in 2020, European Ryder Cup star Matt Fitzpatrick had his own dig.

“It’s not a skill to hit the ball a long way, in my opinion,” Fitzpatrick said. “I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist, and I could gain 40 yards; that’s actually a fact. I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that. But the skill, in my opinion, is to hit the ball straight. That’s the skill. He’s just taking the skill out of it, in my opinion. I’m sure lots will disagree. It’s just daft.” 

However, those comments also drew a response, not least from DeChambeau’s Ryder Cup teammate, Justin Thomas.

When Justin Thomas defended Bryson DeChambeau

While the Americans might have been accused over the years of lacking the team ethic of the Europeans, when it comes to comments like this, they seem to have each other’s backs.

Indeed, back when Fitzpatrick made his observations, fellow major winner and American Justin Thomas weighed in and had a completely different view.

“That’s just laughable,” Thomas said at the time.

“I just don’t understand how you can tell me or anybody that what Bryson has done – look, you don’t have to like the guy, you don’t have to agree with what he’s doing, you can think he’s different, whatever. But you can’t argue the fact that he has completely transformed his body, which is large, by the way – he is a unit. And done it successfully and played well and won a major.

“I mean, he’s pretty much given up his life. He’s completely changed his entire lifestyle and what he’s done. And just like someone learning to jump higher or someone learning to throw a football farther, it’s a skill.”

• READ MORE: The comments Nick Faldo made about Rory McIlroy which enraged Gary Player, ‘the height of ignorance’

Why Justin Thomas once criticized Bryson DeChambeau

Of course, while Thomas has defended DeChambeau over his methods and hitting the ball far, he’s not always been on his side.

Back in 2019 and with the age-old topic of slow play once again rearing its head, Thomas had his say on DeChambeau, who seemed to be at the centre of the issue.

And at the time, Thomas did indeed call out DeChambeau.

“I hate saying this because I don’t want Bryson to think I’m throwing him under the bus or anything like that, but it’s just unfortunate where the pace of play is in the game at the moment,” Thomas said back in 2019.

As we can tell just from these two examples, golf can be a fickle sport. At the end of the day, they’re all out competing with one another and ultimately, want to win.