World No. 7 Bryson DeChambeau, who made his Match debut against Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson over the summer, will be back in the spotlight Friday against rival Brooks Koepka in a made-for-television event. The fifth installment of The Match series will take place at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas, with coverage beginning Friday at 4 PM ET on TNT.
A showman if there ever was one, DeChambeau’s rise to stardom on the PGA Tour, where he has won eight tournaments including last year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot (his first victory in a major championship), has been predicated on his ambitious “go big or go home” aesthetic, swinging for the fences on every tee shot. The polarizing 28-year-old isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but by leaning into his eccentricities, DeChambeau, for better or worse, has become appointment viewing, inspiring awe with his monster drives and colorful personality.
DeChambeau, nicknamed the Scientist for his meticulous approach to any and all things golf, has developed an obsession with distance, consciously changing his body composition (he put on noticeable weight during the pandemic, though he seems to have slimmed down some in recent months) in an effort to become stronger. DeChambeau’s unmatched power has become a parlor trick of sorts, belting a 480-yard blast in Montana while displaying similar heroics at this year’s Ryder Cup in Wisconsin.
In preparation for his match with Koepka, DeChambeau upped the ante with a ferocious 201-mph drive at Topgolf (a popular chain of driving ranges with locations throughout the United States, Canada and even Europe) earlier this week, launching his ball into orbit.
Remarkably, that’s not even his best with DeChambeau reaching a blistering 219-mph ball speed while competing on the professional long drive circuit this fall.
There’s more to golf than slugging monolithic drives, but to DeChambeau’s immense credit as both an entertainer and a master provocateur, he knows what his audience wants. Win or lose, don’t expect DeChambeau to lay up with the cameras rolling Friday in Sin City.
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