Bryson DeChambeau has revealed the latest strand to his career: golf club manufacturing. The two-time major winner used pre-tournament media duties at the Masters to explain he is making his own clubs, in what marks a stark departure from elite golfers working in tandem with equipment companies.
“I think it’s the willingness to always try to improve,” DeChambeau said. “There’s this nature that I have about myself where innovation is a habit of mine and I really find and take pride in that ability to learn, even through failure, even through making a bad decision or a good decision.
“South Africa [at the recent LIV event] I was trying wedges. So I was going quite a bit down a rabbit hole there and figured a couple of cool things out. Hopefully it helps this week.
“Then I am working on irons, building irons, building a driver. So we’ll see where it goes, we’ll see where it takes me. All I could say is, if I don’t put them in the bag, it’s my fault now.”
Pressed on what clubs exactly he was gravitating towards, DeChambeau said: “It’s my own personal clubs I’m building. With myself.”
This may be a wise choice. Five years ago, DeChambeau became embroiled in an extraordinary war of words with the manufacturer of a driver he claimed “sucks”. A representative of Cobra jabbed back. “It’s just really, really painful when he says something that stupid,” said Ben Schomin.
DeChambeau returns to Augusta National keen to atone for 2025, when he wilted under pressure from Rory McIlroy in the final Masters round. Should the pair find themselves in pursuit of the Green Jacket once again this weekend, the level of theatre would be epic.
“It’s great if we can continue to have a rivalry,” said DeChambeau. “I don’t see any problem with that. If anything, it kind of helps create more buzz around the game of golf.
US unless stated, all times BST:
(a) denotes amateurs
12:40 Johnny Keefer, Haotong Li (Chn)
12:50 Max Homa, Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn), Carlos Ortiz (Mex)
13:02 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), José María Olazábal (Sp), Aldrich
Potgieter (SA)
13:14 Ángel Cabrera (Arg), (a) Jackson Herrington, Sami Välimäki (Fin)
13:26 Ryan Fox (NZ), Max Greyserman, Charl Schwartzel (SA)
13:38 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Matt McCarty, Vijay Singh (Fij)
13:50 Casey Jarvis (SA), Kurt Kitayama, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
14:02 Nicolas Echavarría (Col), (a) Brandon Holtz, Bubba Watson
14:19 Sam Burns, Jake Knapp, Cameron Smith (Aus)
14:31 Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor (Can)
14:43 Jason Day (Aus), Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry (Ire)
14:55 Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Patrick Reed
15:07 Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Xander Schauffele
15:19 Russell Henley, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Collin Morikawa
15:31 (a) Mason Howell, Rory McIlroy (NI), Cameron Young
15:43 Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Alexander Norén (Swe)
16:03 Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Sam Stevens
16:15 Brian Campbell, Tom McKibbin (NI), Andrew Novak
16:27 Wyndham Clark, (a) Mateo Pulcini (Arg), Mike Weir (Can)
16:39 Nicolai Højgaard (Den), Zach Johnson, Michael Kim
16:51 (a) Ethan Fang, Davis Riley, Danny Willett (Eng)
17:03 Daniel Berger, Brian Harman, Adam Scott (Aus)
17:15 Fred Couples, (a) Pongsapak Laopakdee (Tha), Min Woo Lee (Aus)
17:27 Jacob Bridgeman, Sergio García (Sp), Aaron Rai (Eng)
17:44 Michael Brennan, Corey Conners (Can), Harry Hall (Eng)
17:56 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Maverick McNealy, JJ Spaun
18:08 Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Chris Gotterup, Jon Rahm (Sp)
18:20 Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose (Eng), Jordan Spieth
18:32 Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka (Aut), Justin Thomas
18:44 Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Scottie Scheffler, Gary Woodland
18:56 Harris English, Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Marco Penge (Eng)
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“Do I respect him as an individual? 100%. Do I want to beat him every time I see him? Absolutely. There’s no question about it. But I think that’s what’s so brilliant about the game of golf is that juxtaposition, having that sportsmanlike respect and then wanting to just absolutely beat the living you-know-what out of him.
“I got him at Pinehurst [at the 2024 US Open], he got me here and I hope there’s more of those to come because it’s great for the game.”
