One of the more puzzling aspects of Sunday’s final round at The Masters was what exactly happened to Bryson DeChambeau, with the American completely falling away at Augusta National.
It appeared set to be a mouthwatering finale to The Masters, with Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau teeing it up in the final group on Sunday, with the pair at least two shots clear of anyone else in the field.
DeChambeau described the upcoming round as a ‘match’, clearly hinting at his belief that the winner of the green jacket was going to come from their pairing. And it looked set to be something of a rematch after the US Open last year at Pinehurst.
On that occasion, DeChambeau capitalised on McIlroy’s mistakes to win. Yet, by the time the LIV Golf star reached the 13th tee this past weekend, he was four over par for the day and pretty much out of the running altogether.
Padraig Harrington left baffled by Bryson DeChambeau during the final round of The Masters
Ultimately, DeChambeau posted a 75 to end up in a tie for fifth. He finished four shots off making the playoff between Justin Rose and McIlroy, which the latter would win.
DeChambeau was so poor with his irons when you consider how good the rest of his game was. But it seems some think that DeChambeau’s problems were self-inflicted.
Speaking to Indo Sport, Padraig Harrington suggested that the Crushers captain went in with completely the wrong mentality if he was going to get across the line.
“Without a doubt the biggest strategy change yesterday was Bryson. Bryson DeChambeau has made himself by hitting driver, being aggressive. What was he doing laying up off the third hole? He’s got a one shot lead, he’s got the tee, he could stand there and possibly drive the green, he’s made his game, what was he looking for? Who is he looking to be? He changed his personality completely,” he said.
“The US Open hurt Bryson DeChambeau basically. He doesn’t want to be known as a slasher who gets it up and down from everywhere. He wanted to be known as a clever golfer, who’s got finesse. But that’s not who he was. I don’t know if it affected Rory in the sense of when he saw him lay up and Rory hit driver; yeah, it was weird. That was the biggest strategy that I saw of the day. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Bryson’s change of personality on number three, the oddest thing ever, him laying up, he just wasn’t there for the rest of the day. He didn’t want to be the player he was at Pinehurst, he wanted to be somebody else. He wanted to be a clever golfer, he didn’t want to be known as the hit and gouge guy who won the US Open. It was an incredible change of personality,” he later added.
Harrington also criticises what Bryson DeChambeau said after Sunday’s round at Augusta
DeChambeau has started to make massive strides of improvement when it comes to playing around Augusta National. Before 2024, he had missed his previous two cuts at The Masters. Meanwhile, his best finish had come when he was an amateur in 2016.
His opening round last year was so impressive. But he ended up just moving backwards over the rest of the week, as he failed to break par again.
And it seems that the frustration got the better of him this time around, with DeChambeau making some strange comments about McIlroy not speaking to him during the final round on Sunday.
Unsurprisingly, Harrington had little sympathy for him.
“Bryson coming up with this afterwards: ‘he didn’t talk to me’. Who does Bryson want to be? Can you imagine going out on the football pitch and saying to the guy marking me, ‘he wasn’t chatting to me, he wasn’t very nice’. A player can choose to talk, I’ve not got a problem with that. If you went back to me at the PGA at Oakland Hills, I talked the ear off of Charlie Wi over the last 36 holes, but I didn’t say a word to Sergio García, because it suited me to talk, but I ain’t trying to relax the other guy,” he said.
It proved to be another disappointing finish to The Masters for DeChambeau. Just when it appears that you may have Augusta figured out, the Georgia pines always seem to find a way to trip the world’s best players up again.
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