Bryson DeChambeau is using analytics and pushing the limits of driving distance to gain a major edge at the Masters. And other players are taking notice.
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Justin Rose made his only birdie of the day when he needed it the most, sinking an 18-footer on the final hole to make the cut Friday in the British Open. Three of the world’s top five players missed the cut, including top-ranked Dustin Johnson and No. 2 Justin Thomas. Masters champion Patrick Reed nearly went home after making double bogey on No. 15 and bogey on 16, but parred the final two finishing holes to make the cut on the number at 3-over-par.
SANDWICH, England – They call him King Louis but of late he’s been more of a prince. Come Sunday at The 149th Open Championship, Louis Oosthuizen has the chance to earn the title once more, fittingly at Royal St. George’s, where he takes a one-shot lead into the final round. Legend has it that Saint George tamed and slayed a dragon. Oosthuizen’s proverbial dragon is his near misses. Since winning the 2010 Open at St. Andrews, Oosthuizen has finished second in six majors and THE PLAYERS Championship without winning another PGA TOUR event. Two of those close calls happened in the last two majors – the PGA Championship in May and the U.S. Open in June. On both of those occasions, poor shots into hazards late in the championship proved very costly. But he won’t let those scars affect his fight. “Finishing second isn’t great, so I will play my heart out tomorrow and see if I can lift the Claret Jug again,” Oosthuizen said. “You’re not going to do something silly with taking the impossible shot on, but if there is opportunity to be more aggressive when you need to, you’ve got to do it if you want a win a championship.” A third round 1-under 69 moved the South African to 12 under for the week, his third straight lead. Open debutant Collin Morikawa (68) is just a shot behind with 2017 Open Champion Jordan Spieth (69) is third at 9 under. Corey Conners (66) and Scottie Scheffler (69) may have dragon slaying ideas of their own starting four back while Jon Rahm is not out the running just yet at seven under. That’s plenty more dragons to slay for Oosthuizen. “All of us are just human to think of lifting the trophy, and that’s going to be in your mind. But I think you just need to know it and how to handle it,” he said. “Once we get on the golf course, it’s all golf. “You need to believe that you can lift the trophy, as well, and if you think about it beforehand that you might win this championship, I think that’s great, and you have to believe you can do it.” His nearest challenger in Morikawa is looking to slay history. No player in the long history of golf has won two different majors on their first try. The 2020 PGA Champion has that chance. The 24-year-old showed great composure to rebound from falling four shots back early Saturday. His win at Harding Park came when he burst out of a stacked and packed leaderboard. But this is a new beast, mainly as there are fans, and the added pressure that provides. “I’m going to try and keep it as similar as possible to every other tournament I’ve played. Hopefully trust the process and just be committed with that,” Morikawa said. “The biggest thing I can draw from the PGA is just knowing I can get it done. But I think confidence just comes from hitting good shots, quality shots, seeing putts go in. There is a lot to draw from, especially this week. “I don’t have much experience on links golf, and pretty much all the highlights in my head are from this week. Thankfully there is quite a few. Hopefully we can just use that momentum from the first three days and just bring it into the last 18. It’s going to be a grueling 18, but I look forward to it. It’s the position you want to be in.” And what of Spieth’s dragons? Well it may be more like demons after a costly finish to the third round. The former FedExCup champion gave up back-to-back bogeys on the last two holes from great position in the fairway to fall three back. The first from a poor wedge shot, the second via a three-putt from 20-feet. He’s only managed to come behind to win in two of his 12 PGA TOUR victories. And we can’t discount Conners, Scheffler or even fellow non-major winners MacKenzie Hughes (-7), Dylan Frittelli (-7), Cameron Smith (-6), Justin Harding (-6) or Marcel Siem (-6) given the last two champions at St. George’s were long shots Ben Curtis and Darren Clarke. The last 20 Open winners have come from the top nine on the leaderboard with a round to play. Only one can be the dragon slayer. Who you got?
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Whether the turf is sun-baked or rain-soaked, brown or green, no matter if players attack with driver or proceed cautiously with irons, Carnoustie showed Thursday in The Open Championship that it can hold its own. In what might be the easiest conditions of the week, Kevin Kisner took only 22 putts, one of them for a long eagle that sparked his 5-under 66. It gave him a one-shot lead and little more than bragging rights in the house of stars where he is staying. One shot behind was a collection of players with little history in golf’s biggest events, including Erik Van Rooyen and Zander Lombard of South Africa. Tony Finau had eight birdies to offset his share of mistakes to join them at 67. Of the top seven on the leaderboard, none has won a major. Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm powered their way to 69s, going for the green on short par 4s. Tiger Woods took out his driver one time and shot 71, a round slowed by a short putt he missed and a pot bunker he couldn’t avoid. But no one could go really low. The 31 players who managed to break par were separated by just four shots. “The golf course is great for me,” Kisner said. “The conditions have been fine. Going forward, you never know what you’re going to have in Scotland. I know the rain is coming in tomorrow. I don’t think the rain is going to affect how the golf course is playing in one day, but I have to just keep doing what I’m doing. If I have 22 putts the next three days, I bet I’ll have a pretty good shot.” Three of his housemates also were under par — PGA champion Justin Thomas (69), two-time major champion Zach Johnson (70) and Rickie Fowler (70). Another is defending champion Jordan Spieth, who was in range of the lead until he made one mental error and two bad swings while dropping four shots over the last four holes for a 72 that didn’t do too much damage. Even in gentle weather by Scottish standards, Carnoustie served up its usual dose of craziness. Padraig Harrington holed a short putt for par on the opening hole and turned to leave when he saw a golf ball trundle onto the green. It was the tee shot of U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, who hit driver off the tee to set up an easy birdie. That was as easy as it got for Koepka for the next two hours. He shot 41 on the front nine. And then he shot 31 on the back nine. “The scores probably weren’t as low as we anticipated, but 1 over is not the worst,” Koepka said. “Definitely didn’t shoot myself out of it, which very easily could have happened.” Sergio Garcia hit a drive that never stopped rolling on No. 10 until it dropped over the edge of Barry Burn. The water was shallow enough for the former Masters champion to smash through a ball rock and water to get the club on the ball and escape without further damage. Carnoustie was not kind to everyone. Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player, managed only one birdie in his round of 76, his highest start in The Open since his debut at Turnberry in 2009. Masters champion Patrick Reed, Hideki Matsuyama, Bubba Watson and Garcia were all at 75 and now have to worry about just getting to the weekend. On the longest day — from Sandy Lyle hitting the opening tee shot at 6:35 a.m. and the group including newcomer Bronson Burgoon finishing off the first round nearly 13 hours later — everyone had their own style of getting around the course reputed to be the toughest links in golf. “Different players are going to have a different way to see how they’re going to play this golf course,” McIlroy said. “I know Tiger is out there hitting a lot of irons off tees and doing it his own way. No one’s going to argue with him — he did it like at Hoylake, and he was able to win there.” There’s one difference, Woods said. “Hoylake is flat. This is not,” Woods said. “And when Hideki hits a 3-wood 400 yards into a burn, you know it’s kind of quick. A couple of my 6-irons went about 240. It’s hard for people to understand it, but it’s just the nature of this golf course.” Kisner’s best score in three previous trips to The Open was a 69 in the final round last year at Royal Birkdale. The firm, crusty conditions are not entirely new. It reminds him of Palmetto, the Alister Mackenzie design in his hometown of Aiken, South Carolina. Not so familiar was his putting. Kisner, normally solid with his striking and his short game, has not contended since the week after the Masters, and he putted so poorly at the Greenbrier two weeks ago that he spent most of his time on putting when he arrived at Carnoustie. “Worked really hard on my speed, which is always the hardest thing for us to get accustomed to here,” he said. “And the ball started coming off on the line, and when I’m doing that, I feel like I can hole them all.”
