It is surely not an overreaction to say that Bryson DeChambeau finds himself at a crossroads in his career after missing the cut at The Masters.
Bryson DeChambeau could not have asked to go into Augusta National off the back of a better run of form.
He had won the last two LIV Golf events. And he could take even more confidence from the fact that his second victory came following a playoff with Jon Rahm.
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But DeChambeau has now missed the cut at The Masters in three of his last five appearances.
Obviously, that is a somewhat misleading statistic. DeChambeau finished tied for sixth in 2024 and one place higher 12 months later.
But there are some common problems that DeChambeau seemingly refuses to address.
A Masters wake-up call for Bryson DeChambeau
He has lost strokes with his approach play in four of his last six appearances, according to Data Golf. Meanwhile, he has produced negative numbers around the green in five of his last six Masters starts.
It will surprise no one to know that those struggles continued this year.
There have been plenty of warnings. Trevor Immelman said DeChambeau would win a major in 2025 after his performance last year if he could find a way to solve his iron issues.
However, DeChambeau is clearly too stubborn to make the kind of change that is going to help him every time he makes the drive down Magnolia Lane.
He is now in the position where no amount of good form can give him the confidence he would ideally like heading into The Masters because the golf course has his number.
If there is one player DeChambeau should look to learn from this week, it is perhaps Collin Morikawa.
Collin Morikawa has made an extremely impressive return to Augusta National
Expectations for Morikawa this week were incredibly low, simply because of the back injury that forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship.
He did not subsequently play in a tournament before the first major of the year. Nevertheless, he managed to make the cut despite admitting after his second round that he had no confidence in his swing.
“Honestly, it doesn’t hurt. My legs are very tired, but the trust isn’t there. It’s a really weird way to describe it. I don’t trust myself to swing normally,” he said.
“I mean, if you watch any of my swings, it’s the armsy-est swings I’ve ever put. You know, I think I’m just guarding, because I never know when it’s going to happen. Then I don’t know how to get over that. I think it’s going to take some time, but you know, you grind it out. Trust me, the last two days were some of the best golf. No matter what I would have shot, but truthfully, today was probably the best golf I could have played.”
Morikawa went on to suggest that he was focusing on making a much more relaxed swing. Nevertheless, it allowed him to reach the halfway mark inside the top 20.
Whether his body holds up for the remainder of the week remains to be seen. But Morikawa could be about to register his sixth successive top 20 finish at The Masters if he keeps this up.
He has found a way to adapt his game to handle the demands of Augusta National.
DeChambeau does not appear to have that same ability to move away from whatever plan A is.
DeChambeau is on course to be remembered as one of the biggest stars of his generation. But if he ever wants to get his hands on the Green Jacket, he desperately needs to make some substantial changes.
This may be the wake-up call that he truly needed.
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