Page 44 - Golf World (February 2020)
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20 QUESTIONS























































                Ever since a 19-year-old Jordan Spieth          In short, nothing more than he’s                Bryson DeChambeau entered last
                won the 2013 John Deere Classic and             already doing. Having raced to five              season with high expectations, having
                started holing everything he looked at,         European Tour titles in just 39 starts,         closed 2018 with a flurry of victories
                one question lingered. What would               10 quicker than Seve, and having put            that suggested a major victory was
                happen if his super hot putter ever             himself in contention to win at a rate          within reach in 2019. Instead, he
                went cold? It didn’t take long to find           not seen since Tiger in his pomp, and           struggled to make the impact expected,
                out. In 2016, Spieth ranked 2nd in              having registered top 10 finishes in all         falling from a year-end world ranking
                Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA              four majors since turning pro, the              of 5th to 12th a year later. The off
                Tour. A year later, he ranked 123rd,            question is when and not if the                 season has allowed him to take stock
                having also tumbled to 181st in                 Spaniard will win his first major.               and look at how he can take his game
                cleaning up the three-footers. He is            Blessed with the game, and a high ball          to the next level. The answer, it seems,
                now without a victory since the 2017            flight  reminiscent   of  the  one  that         is for the young American to bulk up.
                Open Championship.                              powered Jack Nicklaus to 18 major               “I’m going to come back and look like
                   But at least the solution was simple         titles, the only question mark of Rahm          a different person,” he announced late
                – rediscover the magic and climb back           has always been his hot temper. But             last year. “Bigger. Way stronger. I’m
                up the rankings, right? Not quite. In           even that seems to be under better              going to be hitting it a lot farther.” In
                2019, Spieth had his best ever putting          control   nowadays.     Witness    last         this era of gym bunny super athletes
                season. Yet he is now 43rd in the world         November’s      DP     World      Tour          that’s hardly a revolutionary approach.
                and was a bystander as the American             Championship and Rahm three                     But this being DeChambeau, there is
                Presidents Cup team boarded the                 putting on 15, something that might             science behind his reasoning. The goal
                plane to Melbourne for its biennial             have   made     the   younger,   more           of bulking up is to “make sure the
                destruction of the Internationals.              combustible Rahm explode and                    neurological threshold is just as high as
                   So have the quirks of Spieth’s grip,         unravel. Instead he counted to diez and         the mechanical threshold,” which, as
                bent left arm and chicken-wing finish            reminded himself of a story Jack told           we all know, means maximising muscle
                finally caught up with him or is the             about winning the Open at Muirfield              potential and the body’s range of
                problem psychological? The issue most           in 1966. “He said he was on the 16th            motion. While hardly a slouch off the
                likely has its roots in a late Sunday           hole as well and told himself: If you           tee, DeChambeau’s drives last season
                Masters afternoon in 2016, when                 finish 3, 4, 4, which there is birdie, par,      ranked T34, his 302.5-yard average
                Spieth lost a five-stroke lead down the          par, you win the tournament,” smiled            being 15 yards short of Cameron
                stretch. The following summer, Spieth           Rahm. “I told myself on 16 before I hit         Champ at the very top and seven yards
                almost blew the Open at Birkdale in             the tee shot, “If you finish 4, 3, 3, you        behind Brooks Koepka at T10. It’s
                similarly destructive style from the            win the golf tournament, no matter              hard not to assume that DeChambeau
                front. And in 2018, he let a final round         what anybody else does.” And that’s             has been inspired by Koepka, the world
                lead at Carnoustie slip. Spieth, quite          what I did.” He sealed that success             number one and poster boy of power.
                simply, has lost the ability close. We’re       with a birdie. Expect bigger and better         Copying the four-time major winner’s
                betting it’s only a temporary affliction,        from Rahm in 2020 – perhaps as early            body shape makes scientific sense. If he
                though. Winning, after all, is in his           as the Masters. And when he lands the           can also copy Koepka’s pace of play,
                DNA. He’ll find a way.                           first, expect it to be the first of many.         we’ll be right behind him.





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