White Sulphur Springs – Professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau is often referred to as “The Scientist.”
Now you can refer to him as “Mr. 58.”
After tying the LIV Tour record for the lowest 18-hole round with a 61 Saturday, the SMU graduate went even lower on Championship Sunday at The Greenbrier.
Trailing second round leaders David Puig and Matthew Wolff by one shot, DeChambeau dropped in 13 birdies against just one bogey for a historic round of 58 to capture the first LIV Tour win of his career.
“It’s beyond words. I’ve been working so hard for a long time, and I knew something special was going to come at some point, I just didn’t know when,” DeChambeau said. “The way I played the first round was pretty much the worst I could have done. The second round was like, okay, obviously played really well, made a lot of good putts. Then today I just kind of felt everything clicking. I missed it in the right places when I needed to, and putted beautifully today.”
Teeing off in the same group as Wolff and Puig, the 2020 U.S. Open champion wasted no time putting pressure on the youngsters.
DeChambeau birdied the first two holes before making his first par of the day on hole three. He reignited the fire by running off four birdies in a row and never trailed again.
While winning his first LIV Tour event was the ultimate goal, following the hot start Sunday, DeChambeau admitted he had a sub-60 round on his mind.
“It was after I made birdie on seven and then I proceeded to make a nice little bogey on eight. Then I backed it up with a couple birdies on nine and ten,” DeChambeau said. “Pulled the drive on 11, was a little afraid of missing it right for some reason. I was able to hit it up there close, and I almost made that putt.”
Even though he was seven-under par after ten holes and held a commanding lead on his playing partners, DeChambeau could not afford to take his foot off the gas pedal.
One group ahead of DeChambeau was Mito Pereira who was five-under par after his first eight holes which included an eagle on the par-4 second hole to start his round.
“I was watching (the scoreboard). I absolutely knew the whole day, and (Mito) was not letting off the pedal. I’m like, okay, I’ve got to answer,” DeChambeau said. “When I get in that mentality, it can get pretty scary for others.”
The last bit of separation between the top two players came on the par-5 12th hole when Pereira made bogey and DeChambeau later rolled in a birdie putt on the same hole.
Pars on holes 13 and 14 did not deter DeChambeau’s run at the magic 59 score. Neither did the weather which reared its head for the first time over the last four holes.
“It did impact some shots,” DeChambeau said about the steady rain. “The last hole I tried to play a lower shot in there just to keep it down and kind of skip it up. I skipped it up but it just spun back. There was a lot of spin that I produced on that shot.”
Three straight birdies made DeChambeau 11-under for the round. All he needed to secure the coveted 59 was to make par on the final hole. When he stepped on the 18th tee, the grounds were packed behind the green hoping to see history once again on the Old White.
While the fans were expecting DeChambeau to make history by matching Stuart Appleby’s 59 in the inaugural Greenbrier Classic back in 2010, they instead got a different sort of history.
Prior to Sunday, Jim Furyk was the only player in major professional golf to record a round of 58. That accomplishment did not look in jeopardy after DeChambeau’s tee shot on the signature par-3 on the Old White left him with a long birdie attempt.
With rain coming down even harder, making a par for the round of 59 even seemed a question mark.
“As I approached the putt, I’m thinking, don’t give myself a three-footer (for par). It was just get it as close as possible. Once we did a bit of the calculations, it was like, all right, it’s a 40-footer, and I hit a 40-footer to start off every single day in practice. I know exactly what a 40-footer feels like,” DeChambeau said. “So I just made that feeling, and I stroked it, and it was perfectly on line. Three-fourths of the way there I’m like, oh, my gosh, this isn’t going to go in, is it? And I’m like, this is for 58, this is for 58, this is for 58, and then I explode. That was fun.”
The reigning LIV Tour champion wasn’t the only one that exploded with excitement.
“The passion that these fans have out here, they’re looking for something, and I think that’s why this is such a great venue,” DeChambeau said. “The fans were awesome on that last hole, making that putt and seeing everybody just go nuts in that stadium sort of atmosphere was pretty electric.”
In his final two days on the Old White layout, DeChambeau made 22 birdies and just one bogey over 36 holes. It was a feat he said was made possible in large part by his caddie, Greg Bodine.
“Going 61-58, it’s a possibility I never thought I would do at the Greenbrier. I never thought I’d do it over the course of my career even. To even back up a 61 is really difficult,” DeChambeau said. “I had something special going today, and I just felt super comfortable over tee shots. I was able to play the course the way it was designed, and G-Bo was able to keep my head calm. When I started to get a little nervous he kept it fun and light and we had a great time out there. “I made the putt on 18, and he goes, what did you shoot? I’m like, 58. He’s like, 58, what? He didn’t really even know. It was quite a funny exchange afterwards. Probably the greatest moment in my golf career.”
Pereira came home second at 17-under par, six shots behind the champion. Pereira was followed by Richard Bland, Wolff and Puig who were one shot back, tied for third place.
Playing in the final group for the first time as a professional, Puig started slow going two-over par on the first eight holes. However, the Tour rookie bounced back with four birdies and an eagle on the final 10 holes.
“It was a good experience for sure. I wouldn’t say I was nervous, but for sure it cost me a little bit to start the day. I didn’t hit it very good for the first eight holes,” Puig said. “But yeah, I kept fighting. Obviously seeing Torque (GC) up there (on) the leaderboard helps for sure, seeing these guys playing very good. It was for sure a learning experience, and now I know I have the game to play for tournaments.”
Puig and Pereira combined with Jaoquin Neiman to lead Torque GC to the overall team win which was their fourth victory of the season.
Their combined score of 49-under par over the three-day event was also a LIV Tour record for the team competition.
“I started the right way, made a two on the first hole, so that was an eagle, made it from 159. It was pretty good,” Pereira said. “We had the team lead all day, I think, and obviously at some point Bryson just stepped it up in the individual (event). It was like, he’s like 10-under through, I don’t know, like 15 holes. (It was a) really nice week. Happy for all four of us. They played great too, so really nice week.”
The LIV Tour is back in action Friday for a three-day tournament at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
