Top 30 Players to Watch in 2019: No. 7 Bryson DeChambeau

SANDWICH, England – Tiger’s killer irons and instinct. Phil’s courage, smile and warmth. Fellow Californian Collin Morikawa invoked thoughts of the two most successful Golden State-bred golfers who came before him as he became the first player to win two different majors in his debut at The 149th Open. RELATED: Final scores | What’s in Morikawa’s bag | Why Morikawa changed irons One is reluctant to tie the 24-year-old’s achievements to these legends, such is their enormity, but it is impossible not to watch the now five-time PGA TOUR winner and be amazed. False dawns for new prodigies have come and gone but in Morikawa we seem blessed with a stayer. “He’s a special kid. I’m lucky to have him. He seems like he has been there 100 times and he hasn’t,” caddie Jonathan Jakovac says. “It just goes to his mental strength and his maturity, and you add the freakish ball-striking to an absolute stone-cold demeanor who is very comfortable in all situations … and you get someone special.” Let’s just take it all in, shall we? With his win at Royal St. George’s, Morikawa is the first player in the history of the game to win two different majors on their first attempt. His name stands alone. No Woods, Mickelson, Nicklaus, Hogan, Player or Palmer. Granted a pandemic of epic proportions made the achievement more accessible but it still should not be discounted. And it is just the first of a myriad of accolades. • It is a second major win in just eight major starts. • He joined Gene Sarazen, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth as the only players in the last 100 years with multiple major wins before age 25. • He joined Woods as the only players to win The Open and PGA Championship before age 25. • He became the seventh player since 1900 to win The Open on debut and first since Ben Curtis in 2003, also at Royal St. George’s. Jock Hutchison (1921), Denny Shute (1933), Ben Hogan (1953), Tony Lema (1964) and Tom Watson (1975) are the others. • He became the sixth winner of The Open to record four rounds in the 60s joining Greg Norman (1993), Nick Price (1994), Woods (2000), Henrik Stenson (2016) and Spieth (2017). • He joined Jones and Nicklaus as the only players to win multiple majors before age 25 when trailing entering the final round. • Become the third player to win multiple majors with final rounds of 66 or better joining Nicklaus and Johnny Miller. • His 265 total was one stroke shy of 72-hole tournament scoring record. Credit where credit is due. Furthermore Morikawa finished Sunday with a bogey-free 4-under 66 to best Spieth by two. It was just his second event playing links style golf after last week’s Scottish Open on the European Tour. And he had the courage to change three of his scoring irons AND change his putting grip from saw-style to conventional for longer putts pre-tournament. That is Mickelson-esque. The enormity of history wasn’t even a featherweight on his back as he coupled a Claret Jug with his 2020 acquisition of the Wanamaker Trophy at the PGA Championship. The Cal graduate won at Harding Park with no spectators and even though he burst out of a seven-way tie with a chip-in on the 14th followed by an incredible eagle on the drivable par-4 16th, the doubters said he wouldn’t have done so amidst a raucous gallery. But a vociferous 32,000 fans were at Royal St. George’s and they had earlier shown a distinct favoritism to fellow contenders Louis Oosthuizen and Spieth. They quickly warmed to Morikawa. He earned it. “He seems to perform better in big spots,” Jakovac says. “I think (the no crowd at the PGA) was a little overblown. You know the stakes of the PGA. You look at the leaderboard and we are tied with seven people for first in a major championship. There are no people there but we are in that moment knowing what is up for grabs. There’s no added pressure when there are fans … especially when you have the focus that kid has.” Tiger-esque focus. “I’m glad I look calm because the nerves are definitely up there. But you channel these nerves into excitement and energy, and that puts you away from a fear factor into this is something I want,” Morikawa said. And Tiger-like ball-striking. Morikawa ranked fifth in the field for greens in regulation, hitting 75%. Pre-tournament, he was gaining 1.5 strokes on average a round in Strokes Gained: Approach, leading the TOUR in the statistic by a healthy margin. “His dispersion is just better. He hits his 6-iron as close as others out here hit their 9-irons,” Jakovac explains. But he was up against Oosthuizen, who held the lead after the first three rounds, and leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting. Morikawa? He entered the week ranked 172nd on TOUR in putting. Yet he led the Open Championship with just 111 putts and didn’t have a three-putt all week. “Definitely one of the best putting performances of my life, especially inside 10 feet. I felt like it was as solid as it’s going to get. I don’t think I really missed many from that distance,” he said. “Everything about my stats say I’m not a good putter. I feel like I can get a lot better. But in these situations, I feel like everything is thrown off the table. Forget about all your stats, it’s who can perform well in these situations. “I’m going to try to figure out what worked today and use that for the future because I know I can putt well in these pressure situations. I’ve just got to keep doing that.” The intellect both on and off course is palpable. So too is his sincerity in his praise of others within his circle. He even had the crowd sing Happy Birthday to Jakovac as part of his victory speech. “I just enjoy these moments,” Morikawa said as the secret to success. “I talk about it so much that we love what we do and you have to embrace it. You have to be excited about these opportunities, and that’s how I looked at it today, especially coming down the stretch. “At 24 years old, it’s so hard to look back at the two short years that I have been a pro and see what I’ve done because I want more. I enjoy these moments and I love it, and I want to teach myself to embrace it a little more… but I just want more. “When you’re in these moments and you truly love what you do, which I love playing golf and competing against these guys, these are the best moments ever.” We should all enjoy his success because if the trend continues, we won’t need to compare him to others – his name will well and truly continue to stand out on its own.

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In the final round of the John Deere Classic, Bryson DeChambeau rolls in a 14-foot birdie putt to punctuate a final-round 65 and a one-shot win over Patrick Rodgers at TPC Deere Run. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where DeChambeau, 23, fires a back-nine 30 to become the second straight first-time winner on the PGA TOUR, and the 10th overall this season. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Putting so often tells the story on TOUR, and it did again at the Deere, where DeChambeau was second in strokes gained: putting (1.873) for the week. Considering he was 195th in that stat (-.594) coming into the Deere, it was a huge improvement. And he didn’t even need to go side-saddle to do it. Also, DeChambeau’s birdie putt from 14 feet, 1 inch at the last, which he punctuated with an exuberant celebration, was his 15th made putt of more than 10 feet for the week. That was not only the best in the field, it was the best of his young career. 2. Patrick Rodgers, the 36- and 54-hole leader who bogeyed the relatively easy 14th and 17th holes to lose by a shot, looks like he’ll win sooner rather than later. It wasn’t like he gave away the Deere. He shot a 1-under 70, and very nearly holed a must-make chip shot from behind the 18th green. That chip shot, which must have taken DeChambeau’s breath away, is reason for optimism. So is the fact that Rodgers embraced being in the lead. With his solo second, he jumped all the way to 52nd in the FedExCup and is now well positioned for a deep playoff run.   3. Steve Stricker, who will captain the U.S. Presidents Cup team at Liberty National this fall, keeps proving he’s still relevant on TOUR. First the 50-year-old pride of Wisconsin got through sectional U.S. Open qualifying, then he finished T16 at Erin Hills, and now he’s gone 65-64 on the weekend to finish T5 at the Deere. Oh, and don’t look now, but Stricker heads to The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale this week after finishing fourth at Troon last year.  4. Although there are exceptions, players who do well at TPC Deere Run tend to keep doing well there. Of the six past champions in the Deere field, four finished in the top 10. Stricker, Zach Johnson and Jonathan Byrd all finished T5 at 15 under, and Brian Harman finished T10. Sean O’Hair finished MDF (missed the Saturday cut), and Ryan Moore missed the Friday cut. Then again, players who don’t do well at the Deere don’t lack hope for the future. In his only other start at TPC Deere Run as a sponsor’s exemption in 2015, DeChambeau missed the cut. 5. You can’t overstate the Tiger Effect on TOUR, a rush of great young players who watched golf on TV when Woods was in his prime and who are now hoisting trophies themselves. The latest 20-something winner, DeChambeau at the Deere, comes a week after 23-year-old Xander Schauffele at The Greenbrier Classic. If you’re doing the math at home, 22 of 36 wins on the PGA TOUR have come from 18 different players under 30. That’s a TOUR record, up from the previous single-season high of 16 players who won 22 times in 2013-14.  FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Only 11 players have won on TOUR the week prior to winning a major, most recently Rory McIlroy at the 2014 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He went on to win the PGA Championship the next week. The last player to do so before McIlroy was Woods at the 2007 WGC-Bridgestone followed by the PGA Championship. 2. Before DeChambeau’s performance at the Deere (1.873 in sg: putting, second best in the field) he had never ranked in the top 10 in that stat in any tournament. He also made a quantum leap in average distance of putts made, going from T182 on TOUR (67’ 4’’) entering the week to 5th (99’1’’) at the Deere. 3. Two stats that go nicely together: DeChambeau was just T32 in driving accuracy (75%) but was second in proximity to the hole on approach shots from the rough (23’1’’). 4. Rodgers’ solo second was his best result since a T4 at the Farmers Insurance Open, and his best result ever. (He finished T2 at the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship.) With his third top-10 finish this season, he vaulted from 62nd to 39th on the points list to make the U.S. Presidents Cup team that will take on the Internationals at Liberty National, Sept. 28-Oct. 1. 5. Of those on the bubble to make the U.S. team, Wells Fargo Championship winner Brian Harman helped himself the most. A past champion at the Deere, Harman finished T10 at TPC Deere Run this time around to move up to ninth on the points list. Winner DeChambeau still has his work cut out for him, having gone from 87th to 43rd. Another win would help that. TOP 3 VIDEOS 1. Kelly Kraft’s hospitality-tent par. 2. Daniel Berger’s fantastic recovery. 3. Bryson ends with a bang!

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Martin Kaymer joined Alejandro Canizares on 9 under par after the third round of the Austrian Open to share the lead as both players seek their first European Tour title since 2014.

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