Masters
Masters 2023: Bryson DeChambeau’s miserable bad break makes it highly likely his Augusta week ends early
Christian Petersen
Don't let the swaggy way Bryson DeChambeau once described Augusta National as a par 67 for him cloud the issue. The truth is, the home of the Masters should be the man’s happy place. His prodigious length off the tee renders the par 5s all reachable in two—even the newly lengthened 13th—and when the now LIV Golf pro is on form with his wedges, he has the answers to the course’s short-game tests.
And yet … it’s never really happened for DeChambeau at Augusta—six starts, no top-20s, best finish T-21 as an amateur in 2016—and it’s definitely not happening this week. After opening with a two-over 74 that left him tied for 54th, DeChambeau was four over through six holes on Friday and looked like he had no shot at being around for the weekend.
To his credit, DeChambeau didn’t pack it in. He made birdies on the eighth, ninth and 13th holes to get to three over for the tournament. Maybe, just maybe, he would make a couple more birdies to sneak in a score, see the rain pour and back door his way into a weekend tee time.
But all that slipped away on the par-5 15th hole. After pulling his drive left into the trees, DeChambeau was forced to layup with his second shot. The ball ran a little farther than we guess DeChamebau wanted, as he was left an awkward 35 yards to the hole. Yet he pulled off what looked like a good third shot, at least as was in the air. And then it did this:
Instead of a birdie, DeChambeau posted another bogey en route to another two-over 74 and, baring the weather wrecking havoc on scores, a probable missed cut (the cutline at 4 p.m. was projected to be two over).
The round adds to the sad trends for DeChambeau at Augusta. Playing in his 24th competitive round at the Masters, he now has 17 double bogeys … plus a quad at No. 3 in 2021. For a man who said Augusta National was a par 67, it’s kind of difficult to get to that number with so many boxes on your scorecard.
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