DALLAS — After former SMU Mustangs golfer Bryson DeChambeau turned the U.S. Open “moving day” into a big one, he fielded a lot of questions on analysis. Oldtimers like me were saying, “do what” a lot listening to his press conference Saturday, but on reflection he’s doing what may be long overdue.
Golf is a sport steeped in tradition and doing the same things for over a century. Until DeChambeau has made what appears at times to be over-thinking the whole thing to death, if anybody was doing it they weren’t talking about it. He’s made it actually seem interesting and easy to understand, even to old guys like me.
Even the press corps at Pinehurst are getting more creative with the questions. It gave the announcers on the NBC television broadcast some interesting commentary throughout another full day of broadcasting. Apparently, we found out, DeChambeau floats his golf balls in salt water. Even the great Ben Hogan, one of the people he grew up being a huge fan of from a historical perspective, probably never thought about that. Not even the late, great Payne Stewart, who was the turning factor in DeChambeau coming to SMU from California.
“Thanks for the salty balls question, I appreciate that,” he said with a laugh about the question. “I put my golf balls in Epsom salt. I’m lucky enough my manager does that so I don’t have to do it. Essentially we float the golf balls in a solution to make sure the ball’s not out of balance. There was a thing back in the day when golf balls were out of balance. It’s because of the manufacturing process.”
Maybe that answers my questions about a lot of shots over the years where the ball didn’t go where I thought it was aimed. Probably not an excuse why I hooked a tee shot on No. 2 at my home course that came within inches of being in my den through the patio door, but a lot of others were slightly off. It certainly could explain some putts.
“There’s always going to be an error, especially dealing with a sphere,” DeChambeau said. “You can’t perfectly get it in the center with the dimples and all. What I’m doing essentially is finding out how much out of balance it is.”
He actually made the whole process sound pretty simple, which may explain why he’s becoming one of the fan favorites. DeChambeau has fully embraced the social media avenue to put himself in the limelight of a sport that has, at times, often made watching paint dry seem exciting.
“The heavy side floats to the bottom and we mark the top with a dot to make sure it’s always rolling over itself,” DeChambeau said. “It kind of acts like mud. If there’s too much weight on one side, you can put it 90 degrees, you can put it where the mud’s on the right-hand or left-hand side and it’ll fly differently. For most golf balls we get it’s not that big of a deal. I just try to be as precise as possible.”
It was a refreshing way to look at things for a guy looking to win his second major tournament after being in the running on the final day at the Master’s and PGA this year. It’s very likely that’s the first time a golfer, with a three-shot lead heading to the final day of the U.S. Open, was talking about putting his golf balls in salt water.
“It’s just one more step I take to make sure my golf ball flies as straight as it can possible fly because I’m not that great at hitting it that straight,” DeChambeau said.
Battling through a problem he was having at the halfway point when his hips tightened up, you’d never know it after a long day. He more or less shrugged off all that.
“The hip wasn’t feeling great, but I’ve got a good team, we’re going to go figure that out and played brilliant,” he said on TV immediately after his round, referring to the team of people that work with him on social media and just making sure he’s ready to play with more information than anybody, “I’ve got two hips that are not fantastic just because of the speed training I do and that’s a consequence of it. I’ll be ready tomorrow.”
DeChambeau is not letting that throw him out of focus for the big day Sunday. Apparently he was hitting it straight enough, playing from the sand a lot in the “native” rough that could blow up a high handicapper worse than collectors chasing late payments. It looked nasty with bunkers so deep the golfers couldn’t see where the ball landed unless they scrambled up in a hurry. He’s keeping the goals clearly in mind.
“Fairways and greens and two-putt,” he said. DeChambeau will be in the last pairing of the day with Matthieu Pavon. Nine of the last 10 to win the Open were in the top two heading into the final day, but he’s in that lofty ranking. If the pressure is getting to him, he’s not letting it show.
PONY EXPRESS:
• DeChambeau on Cusp of Second Career Major Championship at U.S. Open
• DeChambeau may find himself in similar situation to Payne Stewart
• Looking ahead to three biggest games for Mustangs this year that will come fairly early in season
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