AUSTIN, Texas – Officially, Bryson DeChambeau’s drive at the par-4 10^th hole travelled 46 yards in the wrong direction but it’s never as simple as that. Not with The Scientist.

“I was trying to drive the green and it came up just short ... of the [practice] putting green,” he laughed.

DeChambeau said he “heel-pulled” his drive at the 10^th and his ball clipped a tree limb and rocketed right and toward the practice green. Although he lost the hole to Si Woo Kim, he won the match, 2 and 1, to keep his hopes alive for a spot in the weekend field at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

“I could have easily cleared the trees up and over like I wanted to, but I hit it on the wrong part of the face and consequently hit the tree limb,” he explained.

The WGC-Match Play has given DeChambeau an opportunity to flex his muscle – literally. Having picked up so much speed over the last year he was looking forward to this week’s event as a chance to use that length to his advantage.

“A lot of it is gamesmanship and trying to put the golf ball in certain places to make people feel certain ways,” he said. “No. 1 is a great example. [No.] 10 is another one I thought I could go at it, too bad there was a tree limb in the way and it caught the ball.

“A few others out there – 18 I can go for, 5 is always fun. There's just some holes I can take some advantage on and haven't really done that to the fullest this week but hopefully tomorrow I can do it.”