Bryson DeChambeau Blasts 412-Yard Drive to Easily Advance to Day 2 of World Long Drive Competition
MESQUITE, Nev. — When Bryson DeChambeau stepped to the driving grid for the first time here at the Professional Long Drivers Association World Championships at the Mesquite Sports and Event Complex, he felt the nerves.
In fact, it felt a little like playing a PGA Tour event. Or even the Ryder Cup, where less than 48 hours earlier DeChambeau had helped lead Team USA to a 19-9 victory over Europe.
Similar nerves — but not exactly the same.
“Stepping up to that grid for the first time was different,” said DeChambeau, just moments after hitting his first 400-yard drive of the competition. “On Tour, I try and control the adrenaline and allow myself to be more in control and hit it down the middle of fairway. But during this, you're trying to use that adrenaline to get you to it hit farther and farther, and straighter, obviously. This is a totally different scenario and I have to keep getting comfortable with it.”
In his first session of six drives, he recorded a long of 391 yards, but his “first-tee jitters” were apparent. He missed the grid with his first two drives before connecting solidly.
By his third session, a more comfortable Dechambeau started putting on a show. His longest drive was 403 yards.
In his second-to-last session, Bryson started doing Bryson things, recording a blast of 412 yards, his longest of the five sessions. It was also just one yard behind Scottie Pearman, the longest recorded ball of the session. Pearman entered the event ranked as the world’s third-ranked long driver. DeChambeau finished second in his group of 16, just behind Pearman. Defending champ Kyle Berkshire hit the longest drive of the day at 455 yards.
“I was ecstatic and at the time I didn't even know I had hit one 400 yards,” DeChambeau said. “I just kept going, but once I looked down, I saw that and I was like, ‘Whoa, I did that? No way.’ It was a lot of fun.”
For the last two years, DeChambeau has been on a quest to maximize distance. He dedicated himself completely to the process of long drives, mostly to improve his overall golf game and scoring on Tour. It has been a memorable and meaningful journey that has culminated with this week, with this event and the Ryder Cup, where on Friday hit blasted a tee shot 417 yards on a target line no other player even dared consider attempting.
“This journey has been very worthwhile, every bit of it,” DeChambeau said. “Every failure, every pain and ache, it was all worth it. Learning how to make my body physically perform at the highest levels that I can perform at is something that is extremely worthwhile. And when you fail and fail, it only makes you better if you can learn from it. That's what I've taken away from this journey.”
Other long drive competitors participating in Mesquite seemed to embrace DeChambeau’s participation. Brandon Flynn, who placed first in the second session and recorded a longest drive of 399 yards, correctly predicted how DeChambeau would do on the first day.
“Bryson's going to do just fine,” Flynn said. “He's just such a great ball striker, obviously, and watching him on the range, he's hitting kind of a mid-ball flight, which right now will be just fine. He has nothing to worry about with this set.
“It's fantastic for him to be here. To take time out of his busy schedule to come out here and compete is incredible. And to acknowledge that this is a cool sport and that it does coincide with golf is terrific. I think a lot of people have a misconception of the sport that this is just a bunch of big guys just bombing it. But it really takes a lot more athleticism and precision than meets the eye. For Bryson to be out here, it's huge. It's awesome.”
DeChambeau also enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow competitors. He's also allowed his process-oriented mind to consider the possibility of winning it all on Friday.
“It would mean a lot, no doubt about it,” DeChambeau said. “I'm looking at it from the standpoint that I'm an underdog and if I come out and win, that'd be amazing. But it’s very important to me to highlight these players out here. They are so much faster and they've got a lot of talent out here … I want to highlight these amazing, talented individuals that are doing things that I only can dream of in regards to ball speed. It's something that I wanted to hype up and allow the world to see what this is.”
DeChambeau’s top ball speed was 214 mph during round one and he hopes to increase that as the rounds go by. Reigning world champion Kyle Berkshire’s swing speed tops out at about 230 mph.
“I hope as the week moves along, I keep it in the grid and I get up to 216 to 217 mph,” DeChambeau said. “That's my goal. I'm trying to plan this out and make it as process oriented as possible.”
The top 64 from the field of 80 moved on to the second round scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 29. All scores and live streaming are available at prolongdrivers.com.