Masters leader Bryson DeChambeau remains a massively talented walking contradiction

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bryson DeChambeau, now 30 and mellowed, remains golf’s greatest living paradox.

He shot a career-best 65 at the Masters on Thursday and led by one stroke over Scottie Scheffler when play, delayed 2 hours, 30 minutes by morning storms, was suspended because of darkness.

He birdied his first three holes, then birdied five of the last seven. He hit his tee shots on the par-5 13th and 15th holes into the trees on the right but still reached the green in two. He drained a 31-foot, right-to-left putt form the right of the pin on No. 17 that everyone else under-read and under-hit. He found the fairway bunker on No. 18 but smoked his second shot 177 yards uphill, pin-high and right, then two-putted.

Then it was showtime.

Asked how he developed the patience to manage Augusta National in wind gusts up to 30 mph, he replied: “It’s more just getting older. You know, I’m 30 now, and I’m not old.”

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Once a rabid experimenter, DeChambeau repeatedly referenced a newfound routine that he has leaned on for the last few months which, he said, depends on the lighter demands of the 54-hole LIV Tour events.

“I feel like that sort of schedule that LIV has provided me good, ample time to get ready for tournaments like this,” he said. Then, he said, “Look, it would be fine either way.”

He spent a couple of years bulking up and chasing distance, and, in the middle of that phase, he said Augusta National was a “par-67″ for him.

“The comment was definitely misinterpreted,” he said Thursday. He then quickly said it was not misinterpreted: “I have a level of respect for this golf course that’s a little bit different than a couple years ago. ... Regarding the 67 comment, you know, you mess up.”

DeChambeau shot 61 and 58 on the LIV tour last August at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, one of professional golf’s easiest tracks. Afterward, he said it was “probably the greatest moment in my golf career.”

Really? DeChambeau won the 2020 U.S. Open.

After Greenbrier, DeChambeau said to himself: “All right, what did I do there that was so good, and how do I keep doing it?”

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He has since replaced all of his clubs except his putter.

Scheffler, who won two of his previous three PGA Tour events and lost the third in a playoff, has spent the past 47 weeks ranked No. 1 in the world. The 2022 Masters champ showed why again Thursday.

Scheffler birdied four of his last seven holes Thursday to finish 6-under and in second place. It was his best of 17 career rounds at Augusta and his first bogey-free round.

Scheffler played like a man without a care in the world, even though his wife, Meredith, is due to have their first child in three weeks.

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“Maybe I should be more concerned,” he said Thursday.

(As an aside: My wife gave birth to our first child three weeks early. I missed it at Phillies spring training.)

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, who needs a Masters win to complete the career grand slam, finished Thursday 1-under. ... Defending champion Jon Rahm finished 1-over. ... Nick Dunlap, the amateur who won the American Express in January — the first amateur win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991 — has since turned pro. He finished Thursday at 5-over. ... Mickelson, who finished tied for second last year, his best result in any tournament since joining LIV in 2022, finished 1-over. ... Tiger Woods got up-and-down on Nos. 10, 11, and 12 to stand at 1-under through 13 holes when play was suspended.