Bryson DeChambeau Wants to Drive the Green on a 555-Yard Par-5
Let it rip, Bryson
The par-5 sixth at Bay Hill is the next stop in Bryson DeChambeau’s quest to break golf.
The Orlando course is the site of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, and DeChambeau has had this date circled on his calendar for a while now. Why? Because the unique layout of No. 6 presents him with the opportunity to reach the green off the tee, a daring move that, if successful, would leave him putting for an albatross.
The hole skirts the edge of a large pond, measuring 555 yards from tee to green. Well, that’s if you go around the water. The distance from the tee, over the water and to the green is a measly 350 yards. Only one player on tour is capable of carrying that kind of distance, and he’s thinking about trying it during this weekend’s tournament.
Courtesy of Bay Hill Club
During his Wednesday practice round, DeChambeau teed up at No. 6 as a gaggle of onlookers waited to see if he could actually bomb it over the water.
“Everybody wants to see this,” he said with a smile.
But he was hitting into the teeth of a stiff wind, and so he plunked both attempts into the water.
DeChambeau has been talking about attempting this for a while now.
“If I play this year I will definitely do it,” he told Golf.com in January. “No. 6 at Bay Hill is one of those I’ve been eyeing. I think I can do some pretty cool things on it.”
But he was less certain about attempting the shot after his practice run on Wednesday, tweeting that he “might” do it “if the conditions are right.”
The conditions may very well be right for him during the tournament. The wind during his practice round was blowing out of the west at 15–25 mph. On Friday and Saturday, though, the forecast calls for northeasterly winds, which would put the breeze at his back.
If he does end up trying to drive the green, he would be the first to give it a shot since John Daly in 1998. Daly ended up hitting six balls in the water and making an 18 on the hole.
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