Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 10, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A19 A 19SPORTS I GOLFSUNDAY, JANUARY 10, 2021 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM K APALUA, Hawaii — Six play-ers in the 42-man field at the Sentry Tournament of Cham- pions reached the 675-yard 18th hole at Kapalua in two shots during Thursday’s opening round. Bryson DeChambeau was not one of them. The U.S. Open champion came up just short, which he attributed the wind dying when his 7-iron was in flight. Yes, his 7-iron. Justin Thomas, the defending champion who led Thursday after an 8-under 65, hit 5-wood into the 18th green and two-putted for a birdie. So they had the same score on the hole, which is all that matters. DeChambeau is 13 shots off the lead entering today’s final round, after shooting 70 Saturday. But that 7-iron was a big deal to him, evident by the fact he mentioned it twice. It’s all about his pursuit of more speed, more distance, and there’s no end in sight for him. “I still feel like there’s some low- hanging fruit with the driver, the speed I can gain. It’s fun,” DeCham- beau said. “I hit 7-iron into 18, albeit the wind died and I went a little short. I mean, I hit 7-iron on 18. That’s a big deal for me.” So was the par-5 fifth hole, which only measures 512 yards if players choose to take a straight line over a gorge that fronts the green. DeCham- beau did. He hit a pitching wedge for his second shot. He also three-putted for par. “Putting still matters,” DeChambeau was quick to concede with a smile. Power has always been an advantage in golf and always will be. There’s also more to the game than the long ball. For DeChambeau, it’s all about going down the rabbit hole, as he is fond of saying, in search of methods never imagined. He leaves bread crumbs to find his way back if he winds up going down the wrong hole. When it comes to speed, he keeps digging. The goal is for his golf ball to come off the driver at 200 m.p.h. in tourna- ments, and eventually get as fast as 210 m.p.h. That’s why he spent so much time adding muscle and mass to his body, some 40 pounds, to be able to handle the twists and torque of swinging as hard as he can during hours of practice. He told Golf Channel he reached 211 m.p.h. on the range at Kapalua earlier this week. DeChambeau was relatively quiet in public after he tied for 34th in the Masters. He said he spent time with Kyle Berkshire, the World Long Drive champion, his inspiration to chase speed and now a mentor. It works both ways. Berkshire wants to compete in proper golf, and DeChambeau can help with that. “He showed me some amazing things, and I showed him some wedg- ing things,” DeChambeau said. DeChambeau doesn’t like to share everything he knows or has learned, but he spoke Thursday about Berk- shire’s techniques and the notion of pushing the limits of his body by swinging hard for long hours to build up tolerance. As usual, there’s a little science involved with the SMU alum who ma- jored in physics. “I don’t know if you’ve ever experi- ence a runner’s high or something like that, where you get these extra endor- phins and that’s kind of what breaks your neurological CNS, which is a great thing,” he said, as if his audience readily knew the acronym for central nervous system. “That’s kind of a basic principle of what he’s done,” he said. “He’s just overworked his CNS like a madman and he’s shown me some really cool techniques that have allowed me to sustain speed on the golf course. So I feel like I was a little faster out there today, which was awesome to have. I’ve just got to hone it in.” Did he mention the 7-iron he hit to the 18th? DeChambeau was fascinated by Berkshire telling him he pushed him- self until he was at the point of black- ing out. The U.S. Open champion said he tried to follow suit. “There were times where I was see- ing a tunnel and I had to stop. I mean, you have to stop,” he said. “I did not black out, but I came very close, just like he did.” No telling where all this will lead. He already won a U.S. Open with the lowest score ever at Winged Foot, though that was more about strategy than speed. Distance helped, sure, but he realized no one was going to hit fairways that tight. He blasted away with driver and trusted his wedge game from the rough, which was sub- lime that week. There is more to golf than distance. DeChambeau is no dummy. He’s just obsessed until he reaches ball speed of 210 mph. “Once I achieve those speeds and I’m comfortable — not trying to swing my butt off, it just happens naturally — that’s when I’ll probably stop and go down the chipping rabbit hole and try and understand my chipping and wedg- ing a bit better.” — The Associated Press Pursuit of power never ends for DeChambeau From 0-210 in a split-second DOUG FERGUSON MATT SLOCUM / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Bryson DeChambeau won’t be satisfied until his ball speed with the driver reaches 210 m.p.h. Once he achieves that, well, he might look into chipping and wedge play. ‘Putting still matters’ — Bryson DeChambeau, after hitting a wedge into a par-5 and three-putting for par KAPALUA, Hawaii — Ryan Palmer went through a range of emotions over the fi nal 15 minutes Saturday that end- ed with him posting a 9-under 64 for the best round of the week and a share of the lead with Harris English in the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Palmer thought he might have been in trouble with a thin fairway metal ap- proaching the green on the par-5 18th. It narrowly cleared native grass left of the green and rolled out to 12 feet, and he two-putted for birdie. His score stood when rules officials determined there was no intent, and no penalty, when he tamped down a divot a few paces away from where his golf ball was rolling after a muffed chip on the ninth hole. English wasn’t so fortunate with his second shot to the 18th. He was left and came up some 15 feet short of clearing the hazard. His only good break was that a marshal somehow spotted it. Instead of a third shot from 200-plus yards away, he hacked out to 80 feet away and took two tough putts for par and a 66. They were tied at 21-under 198, one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who also flirted with trouble on the closing hole at the Plantation, finished with a birdie and shot 65. Until the final hole, the third round at Kapalua was all about making bird- ies to keep from losing ground. Scoring has been exceptionally low, not just by one player but several of them, be- cause of a soft course and little wind. The top three began to pull away. Daniel Berger, playing in the final group with English, had a long eagle putt hang on the lip at the 18th and had to settle for birdie and a 67 that left him three shots behind, still in the mix. Defending champion Justin Thomas finally hit a shot he couldn’t find. Three times this week, he hit it into knee-high native grass and managed to locate the ball and twice saved par. He wasn’t so lucky on the sixth hole, send- ing it well right and into a deep gorge for a double bogey. Thomas recovered for a 68 and was four back, along with Sungjae Im (67). Masters champion Dustin Johnson was doing his best to keep pace until his drive on the par-5 15th sailed too far right and into the hazard, leading to a bogey that felt even worse consid- ering it’s a par 5 he can reach in two with an iron. He missed birdie chances coming in and shot 69, seven shots out of the lead. Xander Schauffele two years ago shot a 62 on the final day to rally from five behind, and such a score is possible in these ideal conditions. But there’s a lot of players to climb, and English hasn’t shown any signs of backing off as he goes for his first vic- tory in just over seven years. Palmer has gone even longer — 11 years since his last individual title on the PGA Tour. — The Associated Press Palmer scorches Kapalua for nine-under 64 Harris English fired a 66 Saturday and is tied for the lead at Kapalua with Ryan Palmer. DOUG FERGUSON A_19_Jan-10-21_FP_01.indd A19 1/9/21 10:49 PM ;