Augusta National has a habit of biting players on the backside, whenever they get slightly too comfortable around the fabled old course.
There isn’t one player out there, even the greats of the game, who have ever conquered Augusta National without being on the end of some pain occasionally as well.
Jason Day made a fine start to The Masters on Thursday, by carding a solid two-under par round of 70.
And he has opened up about how getting the better of the Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones masterpiece is more a war of attrition than anything else.
Bryson DeChambeau may well agree with Day now, but he didn’t always subscribe to that notion.
The American powerhouse is a two-time major winner now, and is far more mature than he was when he burst onto the scene all those years ago.
Brad Faxon said Bryson DeChambeau entered Masters week in fine spirits.
However, he may have to reign in his power if he is to win his first green jacket this week.
Jason Day says Bryson DeChambeau got something wrong about Augusta National
Back in 2020, Bryson made the foolhardy remark that Augusta is actually a par 67 for him, due to his enormous length off the tee.
He ended up being humbled that week, and finished in a tie for 34th.
And Day highlighted how patience is very much a virtue around Augusta National:
“Yeah, that’s a good one (his round of 70). It’s hard because you sit there and you’re like, okay, well, you have to acknowledge that it is going to be tough and you’re going to get some breaks where you feel like you should have got a better break than what it did.
“You’ve just got to go through the process of everything, make sure that you gather all the information because the thing is that it’s very, very easy to kind of push and start being aggressive, and you cannot do that around here.
“You’ve just got to just ease your way into it and just hopefully you gain some momentum. You cannot — I was talking to Min Woo Lee about it yesterday. We played Tuesday and Wednesday. It was one of the days. I said, you can’t overpower this golf course. He’s got the power to overpower a golf course.
“Kind of the same thing as when Bryson came out and said his par is 67. You can’t expect to overpower this golf course. You have to respect it enough to be able to go, okay, I’m going to hit it here when I’m out of position.
“2, for instance. I hit it short in line with the green. The play is like kind of front of the green and to the right. I had a pretty awful chip over that bunker. When you are in positions like that, just not trying to bite off too much and then just ease your way into it.
“Because it’s very easy to get yourself out of position quick and start pressing and then you start making mistake after mistake and then you start thinking about it more and it’s just like — you’re going to have an early week.“
Does Bryson DeChambeau regret Augusta par 67 comments?
Well, the simple answer to that question is no, he doesn’t.
During an interview with The Telegraph earlier this week, the LIV Golf superstar was asked about those infamous remarks he made five years ago:
“I’ve always since said I don’t regret saying that 67 thing, because I learnt from that experience, and it made me a better person.
“But do I wish I hadn’t said it? I do. Really, I do,” added the 31-year-old.
“Because it impacted some people negatively and I don’t want that, no matter how much of a benefit it might have been to me maturing.
“I can see that it was disrespectful to some and I’m sorry for that. Boy, it was a humbling experience. But for me it was simply from a statistical viewpoint and yardages and looking at, if I’m playing well, I could or should be hitting the greens in two or whatever,“ he said.
“It was motivation for myself and not intended as anything otherwise. I’ve never disrespected Augusta internally.“
Fair play to Bryson for owning his mistake. He has completely changed as a man since those early days.
And now Jason Day’s comments about how to succeed at Augusta National will probably resonate with Bryson DeChambeau.
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