Bryson DeChambeau would be forgiven for feeling that he should have secured a third victory of the season at LIV Golf Korea, with the Crushers captain finishing just one shot off making the playoff in Busan.
DeChambeau got off to a brilliant start at LIV Golf’s latest event. The Crushers captain led the way after posting a five under par round of 65.
Unfortunately for DeChambeau, his momentum stalled over Friday and Saturday. He was one over par for the third round to leave himself with plenty of work to do heading into Sunday.
However, he gave himself a chance to win with his second round of 65 of the week. And it appears that he would credit AI for helping him end the tournament on a high.
How AI helped Bryson DeChambeau ahead of the final round of LIV Golf Korea
Of course, DeChambeau is known for not leaving a single stone unturned in his pursuit of golfing perfection. He is not afraid to take risks that other players would steer well clear of.
It does not always pay off. Some would probably argue that he may have reached a ceiling with the iconic golf clubs he has used throughout his career.
But speaking after his final round in Korea – where his Crushers side won the team event – DeChambeau spoke about how he used technology to try and find some answers when it came to problems within his swing.
“Yeah, the beginning of the first round I felt great. Golf swing felt in sync and then it started getting out of sync and it felt like my hands were getting ahead of me. It continued that way for the next two rounds, and it was very frustrating,” he said.
“I spent some long hours on the range trying to figure some stuff out and I was talking to AI quite a bit last night trying to go through some different physics principles that makes the club turn over, having some alpha torque and gamma torque put in there. I was like, what makes that possibly do that, and was talking about just grip pressure and tension.
“So I came out here today with just a little bit more freer hands, and I felt the club a lot better, and I felt like I could close the club a lot more effectively and then I started striping it.
“From then on out, I was able to kind of control it. Still missed some wedges to the right coming in, which is kind of frustrating, but that’s just me holding on a little bit rather than just letting it go.
“I feel like I’m on the right path now, and I had it okay in the first round, but really, I felt really good this round. I felt better than I did in the first round, which is a good trend.
“Hopefully it continues, and I’m just continuing to learn. That’s the thing; this game is so brutal. Missing two cuts at the majors and you feel like you’re golden going in there, won a couple events and playing well, and this game can kick you when you’re at your highest.”
What Bryson DeChambeau was working on in the darkness on the practice ground
DeChambeau is no stranger to putting in long hours on the driving range. There always appears to be a day at each major championship where the 32-year-old is working in the darkness trying to figure something out.
And it was revealed that he was working on the practice ground for some time after Saturday’s third round.
He explained what was going on at that stage of the evening.
“I was slamming the club in the ground trying to figure out what to do. I was frustrated. Been trying everything in my body. I didn’t actually figure it out on the range. I went back and started talking to Gemini and trying to figure out just what it could be to passively make the club turn over. Hands just felt like they were moving forward like this and I couldn’t get the club to turn over. Even if I tried to stop it here, it still wouldn’t turn over,” he said.
“So I left kind of frustrated and learned later that night that I just needed to relax my grip pressure and let the thing just fold over naturally.
“I’m still working it out. I don’t have the answer.”
It is encouraging that DeChambeau is continuing to contend while still feeling that his game is not where it needs to be.
The worry for those around him will be if his tinkering takes him too far away from the principles that brought him plenty of success in the first place.
