The golf world has waited a long three months for the return of the game’s biggest stars but there’s one star glowing a lot brighter and hitting the ball a whole lot longer.
Bryson De Chambeau has returned from the 91-day Tour lockdown looking more like ‘Hulk Hogan’ than your average 26-year old.
And it not just the current World No. 13s appearance but the sight of him with a 5.5 degree driver in his hands and belting a 1.61 ounce golf ball an average of 345-yards over the opening two rounds of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
That’s 51-yards longer than the 2019 PGA Tour average of 294-yards.
De Chambeau’s new look and his ‘new-found’ length has got old heads talking and one of those is Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie.
Hulk Hogan? No, Bryson De Chambeau lining-up a putt during this week’s Charles Scwab Challenge in Texas.
Monty’s now adding his weight in calling for change.
“To see him carrying 330 yards in the air, this is getting unreal,” said Montgomerie on BBC Radio 5 live.
“Something has to be done or these classic courses cannot be used.”
De Chambeau reckon he’s added around 20lb over the three-month Tour absence and a remarkable 45lb in the past nine months.
“When I was out here I was attaining ball speeds of 193, 195 on cerain holes, and quite honestly I can’t use it out here.,” said DeChambeau after a pair of 65s heading to the weekend rounds at Ft. Worth.
“There’s only a couple holes I can use it, No. 11 and No. 1 and No. 2 really.”
His playing partners for the first two rounds, Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson, certainly took notice. For example, on the par-5 11th hole, DeChambeau outdrove the normally long Johnson by 55 yards.
“My ultimate goal is to get as strong as I can, applying some force and speed to the swing to see what it can handle,” added DeChambeau.
Monty’s not alone in admitting he “could not believe” the size of DeChambeau and how far he was hitting the ball.
“He is huge and it’s great to see athleticism in the game but this is a whole new game we are beginning to witness,” said Monty.
“On Friday, Bryson had 10 holes on which he was within 100 yards of the green for his approach. And if you include the four par threes that means there were only four holes on which Bryson was more than 100 yards away for his approach.
“The game has changed dramatically. It’s now brute force and a sand wedge.”
We know the R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), who jointly administer the rules of golf, are evaluating options after releasing a report in February this year that claimed the increase in hitting distances and course yardages “is detrimental to the game’s long-term future”.
“I’m an advocate of what Jack Nicklaus proposes – a tournament ball for professionals, that goes only 80-85% as far,” Monty added.
“The time has come, because we can’t be building courses at 10,000 yards.
“We haven’t the money or the space and there are the obvious ecological reasons. A tournament ball would be a massive step, because of that term “bifurcation” [professionals playing different rules to amateurs]. Yet haven’t we reached that stage, now?”
