AUGUSTA, Ga. — Every move Bryson DeChambeau makes at Augusta National feels deliberate. Many are also exaggerated, oddly interesting and slightly mischievous—fitting for a man who once tried to bend the laws of physics and nearly succeeded. So when DeChambeau’s tee shot on the par-5 13th hole rocketed into the piney abyss during the second round of the 2024 Masters, it looked like an opportunity for the golf gods to kindly remind its newest challenger who was in control.

But Bryson, being Bryson, had other plans, and as a Golf Digest photographer covering his sixth Masters, I was grateful to be there to see it.

As fans horseshoed around his ball that had come to rest right along the rope line in the trees, I worked my way towards the front to try and frame up a shot of DeChambeau punching back out into the fairway. This is what most players do, but when DeChambeau arrived, he knew exactly where he wanted to go, and it wasn’t back into the 13th fairway.

After asking a Masters volunteer to move the rope out of the way, DeChambeau had made up his mind. He didn’t think about it for more than a few seconds and hardly consulted with his caddie. He was going right, into the 14th hole. He then began moving people, waving patrons aside like Moses parting the Red Sea. Hundreds of people slowly shuffled backward into the trees as DeChambeau walked some 200 yards on his newly created line. He was drawing up a completely new routing on the fly.

On the way back to his ball, it happened. Bryson realized that a Masters signpost on the corner of the 13th hole was in his line. Without much hesitation and with more confidence than any one man should have, he hoisted the post out of the ground, placed it over his shoulder. For a split second, he just stood there, looking around like he owned the place. Bearing the de facto Masters cross like he had just conquered the unconquerable. Every witness was left staring with a mixture of awe and confusion.

Everyone in the area was in shock, myself included. I had two cameras on me: one equipped with a wide-angle lens, and the other with a long telephoto lens. In these situations, once you’ve chosen a spot to kneel and shoot from, you’re not able to easily move positions again. I had chosen my spot just five or so feet in front of DeChambeau's ball and was just hoping to get lucky with a good angle.

With the help of a volunteer, DeChambeau gently placed the signpost out of his way. Walked some 100 yards back to his ball, he pulled a 5-iron and hit a punch hook around the corner onto the far side of the 14thhole, a little over 130 yards from the pin. After the shot, he walked away like it was just another routine layup. I had never seen anything like it at the Masters, and likely never will again.

DeChambeau went on to sink his 8-footer. One putt, center cut. Birdie. Two-stroke lead on Friday afternoon.

It was peak Bryson. Power. Creativity. Unpredictable. Entertainment. In a week where most players try to tiptoe through Amen Corner, Bryson bicep-curled it into submission. Augusta National often demands reverence. Bryson offered reinvention. On a hole made famous by Arnie, Nicklaus, Mickelson and Bubba, it was the mad scientist turned YouTuber who left the newest mark by making the pinestraw feel like fairway, and chaos feel like choreography.

The golf gods never saw it coming.