AUGUSTA, Ga. – Augusta National continues to be a mystery for Bryson DeChambeau, who struggled to a 4-over 76 on Day 1 at the Masters.
DeChambeau was once again impressive off the tee with a 326-yard average (second in the field behind Cameron Champ), but he struggled with accuracy with his driver (50%, T-70th in the field of 88) and his iron play (50%, T-58th). Of particular concern were an alarming number of iron shots that were at least a club long.
“I need to understand how the ball flies off of downhill slopes into uphill greens, and conversely uphill slopes into downhill greens, and all of the above,” DeChambeau said. “We just can't calculate and adjust the numbers very well, and the wind is pretty tricky out here. The greens are bouncing pretty hard, and that's what happened.”
DeChambeau’s round could have been even worse after he turned at 4 over and added another bogey at No. 12 after flying his tee shot into the azaleas, but he rebounded with his only birdie of the day at No. 15 and played his last six holes in 1 under par.
Despite his struggles off the tee, DeChambeau said he will continue to use the new driver he put in play this week. “It's fine,” he said. “Got a couple of bad swings on my own. Got to go work on it.”