New US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau will find ways to win even if golf’s rule makers try to guard against his power off the tee, his coach says.
American DeChambeau won his first major by six shots at the testing Winged Foot course in New York on Sunday.
The 27-year-old averaged 325-yards with his driver, prompting calls for golf’s authorities to tame such big hitting.
“Try to make it tough for Bryson and I’m telling you he will figure out how to beat you,” said his coach Mike Schy.
Schy told BBC World Service: “The reality is if you make it so Bryson can’t play he will figure it out.
“They can easily change this whole situation by scaling the rough on courses and they aren’t talking about that.
“Instead of having the same rough 200 yards out from the green, you scale it. At 200 yards it’s an inch and a half deep. At 60 yards it’s six or seven inches deep. The game can go back to strategy and risk and reward if you scale the rough in the right way.
“If you scale the rough it becomes back to how it used to be.”
‘The world’s best putter’
DeChambeau’s display intensified calls for golf’s decision makers to tackle big hitting by changing courses, the design of clubs or even golf balls.
The R&A and USGA already have a Distance Insights project in place to look at the issue but its work has been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
DeChambeau was the only player to break par at Winged Foot and he did so by attacking off the tee and accepting he would at times find rough.
He found just 23 of 56 fairways from the tee during his four rounds – the lowest proportion of any US Open champion. Rory McIlroy said to win while finding so few fairways was “really hard to wrap my head around”.
BBC Sport golf correspondent Iain Carter said DeChambeau had “ripped up the golfing playbook” but that it was “time to act” when finding fairways no longer matters at a major tournament.
Notably, DeChambeau’s win followed widespread coverage of a decision to change his body shape by adding 20lbs in bulk during the coronavirus lockdown.
Schy says he is happy for his player to gain confidence in any way he wishes but feels his first major win owed more to his play on the green and his comfort in using an arm-lock putter.
“He owned that putter and I knew once he owned that it was only a matter of time that he would become a great putter,” added Schy. “I hope people don’t look past that. To win a major you have to be a great putter and he is.
“I’d say he’s probably the best putter in the world right now.”
Schy says DeChambeau has historically “struggled with celebrating” due to his appetite for work but insists he will push him to enjoy his US Open success for longer.
Their quest to unlock further improvement will see them work with a 48-inch driver shaft in the coming weeks before the re-arranged 2020 Masters takes place at Augusta National from 12 November.
“Augusta, as far as the driving goes, it suits him extremely well as they don’t have the rough like a US Open,” Schy added.
“Precision into the green will be interesting. That has been his weakness in the last three months. When you get to Augusta that has to become better.”
