AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bryson DeChambeau knows the feeling of something between proud accomplishment and elation, walking off the 18th green after the first round with the lead at the Masters. And he got reacquainted with the opposite emotion on Thursday.
DeChambeau blasted a patron with his tee shot on No. 6 and the generous bounce was a benefit with the ball fading hard left. The patron, later greeted by DeChambeau and gifted the golf ball to pair with the parting bruise, was struck and the ball rolled closer to the green.
He whacked and hacked his way out of a sand trap for a triple-bogey 7 at No. 11 and spent time staring at the green on 18, leaning heavily on his upside-down putter and closing out his round of 4-over-par 76 with a a three-putt finish. He birdied Nos. 3 and 17, and made bogey at Nos. 2, 16 and 18.
“Bunker was softer than I anticipated,” DeChambeau said exiting the course of his beach challenge at 11.
Entering the first round Thursday, DeChambeau had eight consecutive rounds within the top 10 at the Masters. He was closer to the bottom 10 on this day.
Iron play was a letdown. DeChambeau overshot the green multiple times. He hit 44% of greens in regulation and was tied for 63rd when he signed his scorecard at 3:30 ET on Thursday afternoon. Of course, he transitioned straight to the driving range where the celebrated grinder appeared certain to test the curfew on the grounds Thursday night.
“Just going to give what the golf course gives me. I have to try to hit my irons better,” DeChambeau said. “I drove it left numerous occasions. Did a great job on 18. Wind didn’t hurt it like we thought, and that’s this game. That’s the golf course.”
A turnaround isn’t remotely out of the question. DeChambeau held the 18-hole lead with a 65 in the first round in 2024. That followed first-round scores of 76 in 2021 and 2022 and 74 in 2023.
No player who has carded a triple-bogey during the tournament has wound up wearing the green jacket on Sunday.
“Why am I hooking … everything!?” DeChambeau shouted rhetorically after floating his second on 18 out of the sand and well short of his greenside target.
His third, a chip from off the green, landed well left of the hole and side spin took it 30 feet from the hole. A three-putt mercifully ended his round.
In his 2024 opening round, the streaky DeChambeau had five birdies in the final seven holes. He doesn’t feel like he’s out of anything yet.
“You know, everybody has an ability for weird things to happen, and today I just did not have my irons under control, which is weird,” DeChambeau said. “It’s been good coming into it.”
