Bryson DeChambeau through to final 16 of Long Drive World Championships
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Bryson DeChambeau’s best drives of 2020-21 season
PGA TOUR star Bryson DeChambeau has continued to produce a historic effort at the Professional Long Drivers of America World Championships, extending his incredible run to the final 16 in Mesquite, Nevada.
The eight-time PGA TOUR winner’s quest for a world long drive title is now well and truly a possibility, as the competition slashed the remaining competitors from 32 to 16 on Thursday with DeChambeau emerging as a threat to win it all.
Despite some critics expecting DeChambeau to be a mere sideshow at the Mesquite Regional Sports and Event Complex, the former U.S. Open winner has been brilliant throughout the week, cruising through the opening three rounds.
Fresh off helping the U.S. Ryder Cup team to victory, DeChambeau finished fourth in his 16-man group with 575 points in difficult gusting headwinds on Thursday afternoon. Wins in his first and fourth sets were critical in his advancement.
Things looked dicey in his opening set when DeChambeau’s opening three attempts went out-of-bounds but a fifth ball 358-yard smash allowed DeChambeau to win and post his first 200 points.
On Thursday two 16-man groups competed in five four-man sets. A player earned 200 points for winning a set, 100 points for finishing second and 50 points for finishing third with the top eight of each group advancing.
After his first set win DeChambeau came back to earth a little after his 338-yard top shot was only good enough for third in the set behind Ryan Steenberg and Zach Holton.
The U.S. Ryder Cup star was then under pressure once again in the third set, running last until his fifth ball of 359 yards boosted him to second in the set and left him tied fifth in the group with two sets remaining.
When the Californian came to the tee box for the fourth set he sat right on the bubble and faced a stiffened headwind. But his place was secured via a 333-yard final ball poke that measured a mammoth 214mph ball speed and won the set to send him through to the championship rounds.
The fifth set became a formality with DeChambeau already qualified before hitting a ball. He closed out with a fourth place, conserving energy for Friday.
The 28-year-old will now compete on Friday for the Open Division title that began with 80 players. It will be a hectic schedule for the eventual champion. The final 16 will compete at 3:45p.m. local time before being cut in half to a final eight.
Following that, those qualifiers will be reseeded into two groups of four where they’ll compete again, leaving the top two from each group to make it to the final group of four.
Another round will take place, with the top two moving on to the final head-to-head match for the World Championship.
David Mobley, the 2004 World Champion and 2011 Masters World Champion when he hit an incredible 459-yard bomb, was super impressed getting his initial look at the TOUR star.
“He has a chance to win the world championship, no doubt,” Mobley said after DeChambeau’s first set win.
After avoiding him all week, DeChambeau will now also take on one of his long drive mentors in 2019 world champion Kyle Berkshire who got through in the earlier group.
“What he’s doing is obviously wonderful for the sport. He’s a good guy. He has a very altruistic desire to help the sport out. It’s great to have someone appreciate what the guys can do out here,” Berkshire said while watching on Wednesday.
“He took a big leap of faith and put himself in a vulnerable position to compete out here and he’s backed it up with his performance. He’s doing the PGA TOUR really proud.”
DeChambeau was joined by German Martin Borgmeier, fellow Americans Holton, Steenberg, Nick Vorbeck and Scottie Pearman plus Canadian Ryan Gregnol and Japanese fan-favorite Taiga Tazawa advancing from the group.
In Thursday’s earlier group Americans Berkshire, Justin James, Colton Casto, Bryce Verplank, Brandon Flynn, Wes Patterson and Josh Koch plus Korean Hyeon jun Hong made it through.