How Bryson DeChambeau Became the Most Popular Golfer at the 2024 PGA Championship | The First Cut

Bryson DeChambeau might’ve been the most popular golfer at the PGA Championship.

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ABOUT THE SHOW: The First Cut brings you everything you need to know in the world of professional golf. Nearly every day Rick Gehman, Kyle Porter, Mark Immelman, Greg DuCharme, Sia Nejad and Patrick McDonald bring you the best analysis in the game. From DFS to betting previews, interviews and recaps… everything golf is on the table when you listen to The First Cut.

Victor hin and Bryson dambo seem to draft off one another all day long they were both on fire it was very similar very reminiscent to what we saw out of Shane Lowry and Justin Rose uh the previous day on on Saturday for Victor hin it’s birdies at five six seven uh which really get him in the mix after a little bit of a slow start unable to capitalize on some birdies and you’re thinking okay maybe he’s lagging a little bit behind and all of a sudden he gets himself right back in the mix and around that point he really found his golf swing he hadit some pulls early he seemed to get that straightened out and he was just going right at every single flag it was vintage especially on the back nine like the shot into number 12 right of that right hole location was just ridiculous and that was vintage Victor hin which was just great to see again yeah Mark what I saw uh was a lot of confidence a lot of the ability to take on shots that he might not have been comfortable with to start 2024 after coming off one of the best seasons we’ve we’ve seen from him yeah certainly I was lucky to call the two of them on Saturday afternoon and a couple things jumped out first off Bryson’s power is it’s a separator look Rory’s powerful off the te but Bryson’s power is just different and and he sort of cruises es to the tune of about 330 yards where Rory that’s that’s him not kind of full speed but it’s 90% or so when brusson decides to hit one he’s got a little something extra so on a soft Golf Course like this that’s a weapon I felt like on Saturday he actually didn’t play very well for five or six under or whatever he shot because I thought the wedge game was kind of substandard given where driven the ball and he didn’t hold out very well either and so in a team meet meeting this morning I was like you know if he just makes any number of putts inside of 10 feet and is okay with the wedges he’s going to be a factor and and it’s amazing to me and you were out there Rick kind of the the crowds were in behind this guy because he has a fascinating and entertaining watch and as soon as he gets going in the crowds get behind him then that lifts a very emotional guy anyway and then as it pertains to Victor I mean I I referenced it earlier when you were offline for a bit that move back to Joe has been a stroke of Genius if you will and um if I’m Joe mayor I’m like dude just send a check over this way right now because because the what they did was magnificent when I watched the warm-up Saturday he was hitting the selection of balls and he was hitting three ons it were like Frozen Ropes man and I I sort of looked at him and I smiled and he smiled and I looked at Shay ny’s caddy and I’m like the ball’s not bending very much and he goes no not not at all everything was flying very straight perhaps wanting to drip to the right hand side di but there were very few left misses now I did see I mean I had the group in front of them behind them I should say there were one or two left misses with irons today but at least it wasn’t a two-sided thing so he had something that he could could play and and and as far as Victor is now concerned I’m like you can just throw these last through few months where he was kind of missing in the wilderness if you will you can throw them out the window because now this is a new Victor and this guy looked for real today and he looked like he had a real shot to win this tournament after being Mia for about two months yeah there was a a long time Patrick as we were walking with this group we walked a lot with this group on on the second night it felt like the winner was going to come out of this group The the couple of big moments here let’s let’s focus on Bryson uh Bryson makes Birdie on 10 he makes Birdie on 13 and then he Yanks one left on 16 and I don’t know if you how this came across on the broadcast this thing was 40 yards left it was Gonzo smacks a tree hard loud kicks right back out in the Fairway and the golf Gods uh allow him to hit one to like three feet and he knocks it in for birdie a gigantic break there yeah that shot 230 eight iron chirping at it kind of awkward Club twirl three feat was awesome it was awesome and I know the crowd out there was cheering for Bryson Des Shambo to win and we talked last night about how he feeds off the crowd right he’s the ultimate showman but I think he also feeds off having the chance to hit driver as well and he was handcuffed a couple times right there’s certain holes out there at Valhalla where he he just can’t hit driver even on Thursday he did hit driver number 12 he went down below carried it over the Fairway learned his lesson obviously but you saw that all his best approach shots came following a driver because there are some really sloppy iron shots intertwined in there 12 was not a good shot he hit one deep uh he was flaring that Fairway Wood whatever it is a three or five wood I think he has has them both he was flaring that out to the right all day long and what was it on 15 he had a great bunker shot there to get up and down his short game was unbelievable today even into the par three third 14th he got up and down there too and so I I think just being able to hit driver for him gave him so much more like confidence in Adrenaline combined with the crowd and everything and the one on 16 was awesome just to step onto that and then obviously we know what happened on 18 to drip that one over the edge uh which was a brilliant second shot by the way from that Fairway bunker yeah a couple quick observations about the clubs because I talked to him Saturday about them and he said no these irons this is just the first iteration he goes they’re coming out better and we’re working on making them more reliable now look we all know that he’s eight iron is kind of it’s almost a six iron in the amount of degrees and the Loft it has on the face so everything is beefed up but that almost allows him to play a bit more offense with those irons and then the three-wood and the five what he has where everything else he hits is kind of this tumbly draw those are real spinny and they climb up in the air to me which is strange as well so as far as he is going and him always tinkering with equipment I feel like there is some more advance that he can do with the irons and certainly those two Fairway medals and just to that bounce I don’t know what you guys thought when I saw the footage of it on replay this to me smacked of Tiger Woods back in uh in the playoff against Bob drilled way left and the next thing the ball’s running down the uh the cart path into play it was almost Eerie how that thing came out of the trees like it did the rumor was that Patrick uh had knocked it back out was was a top that’s why I was wondering these boys out Ripper boys that were helping out yeah Ripper crush the whole the whole lot the the I I was impressed very much this week Greg with with Bryson dambo he is someone that um you know I thought was was going to play pretty well at Augusta National and I think that this is a uh certainly a better setup for him PJ championships in US opens and even the creativity he his ability to get up and down uh greenside on 18 we were right there it was a down hill Li it wasn’t great he gave himself a a birdie look and then he pours it in which essentially not only forces the hand of Xander knowing that 20 under is is now in but it forces the hand of Victor havin and how hin putt is uh you know to to at at he has to make it to at least get into a playoff and and I think the pressure may have gotten to Victor a little bit there it didn’t look like he hit his best putt but Rick I think what you bring up with Bryson short game is uh right on point I mean look at some of these numbers for the week they’re they’re kind of Staggering he gains five five Strokes around the green he’s 18 of 20 scrambling six of six from the bunker you know these are kind of the issues that cost him a chance to win The Masters right it was all short game and all putting and this week that area was significantly improved especially with the with the wedge play perhaps there’s something to the wedge play being out of the rough perhaps there’s an advantage for him there as he did when at Wingfoot which also has green surrounded by thick rough rather than runoff areas um so that’s a just a food for thought you know heading into the future but boy this was a really impressive performance with him and the drives were ridiculous like being able to take one and two and and cut the corner on those holes you can’t really cut the corner he did that’s that was a big separator but I think the short game is still the thing that stood out most to me can we just also um identify the fact or at least respect the fact that Bryson has certainly changed his his sort of relationship with the fans and his attitude to the fans in the media too because he’s engaging now and he’s pumping it up and and it’s almost like he’s playing to the crowds where previously he almost had an adversarial relationship with competition and with media and such and he was sort of misunderstood now he he just belongs on a stage man and the stage today was was made for him and it almost almost turned out very well too he’s a content creator yeah true you know at heart honestly I thought he was treating it like after an NFL player scored a touchdown and they look for the camera and they do their celebrations that was literally Bryson to Shambo this weekend on 18 yesterday he turns to the camera goes let’s go let’s go I thought he was going to be like swipe up subscribe comment below what you guys want to see smash the like button so I will have to go back and look but when he made the birdie putt on 16 after hitting the tree he looked back and he either blew the kiss of uh blew the tree a kiss or he bowed to it I couldn’t tell which one that he did but he like did something like that as well it’s next level he’s awesome he is awesome um I will also say I think he’s just now much more comfortable in his own skin I think um I think before he was kind of a different type of guy and he would get crap for that I think he doesn’t care what other people think anymore and uh behind Scotty shuffler I think he was probably the second most popular golfer here this week qu can we also admit that he looks way better in a baseball cap and that stupid other thing he used no I love that the Hogan cap no come on yeah the crusher cap is actually pretty cool and the old logo of him in a Hogan cap miss that Hogan Inception the other thing is he looks much better now that he’s like fit instead of fat I’ll just say it yeah yeah exactly yeah he’s not puffy yeah he’s not puffy anymore um Greg we’ll put a bow on on Victor havin here so he made his last Birdie on 13 and if I remember correctly he had Birdie putts on 14 15 16 17 and 18 uh the one on 17 was probably the one that that he really needed I think it was inside of eight feet uh the putter did go cold on him at the end then he misses the birdie putt on 18 and then once you know once the result of the championship is over he you know misses a shorty for for par there so it’s it’s a pretty ugly finish 17 was uh 9 feet 8 inches he did have a a good look at 162 I mean geez he had a great shot in there after Bryson stuffed it he hit it right over the flag uh granted it was 25 ft long so you don’t give him too much um slack for missing it but he had 1 at seven um 17 feet at 15 as well he was he was dialed in with his approach play and he just needed what what happened earlier in the round he put it really well earlier in the round and all of a sudden it went ice cold at the wrong time and with such a killer as you need if he just gets one of those at 15 16 or 17 he goes to 18 with a totally New Perspective um and and I kind of thought that was going to happen and it it just unfortunately didn’t form but all in all considering where Victor has come from I do believe this is a huge win for him this week