Bryson DeChambeau “almost blacked-out” chasing distance

Bryson DeChambeau has revealed the extraordinary lengths he pushed himself to in recent months in a bid to hit the ball even further.

The 27-year-old is playing in this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, his first appearance since The Masters in November. 

Since then, the US Open champ has been redoubling his efforts to making significant gains off the tee, which included enlisting the support of current World Long Drive No.1 Kyle Berkshire.

DeChambeau revealed that Berkshire inspired him to push his limits to the point of blacking-out.

• Trump awards Medal of Freedom to golf trio

• Whan announces shock LPGA departure

• Another award for record-breaker Westwood

“There was times where I was seeing a tunnel and I had to stop,” said the seven-time PGA Tour winner. “I mean, you just have to stop. That’s about when you stop. There’s a lot to it.

“I did not black-out, but I came very close, just like [Berkshire] did. He did the same.”

Whilst initially widely derided, DeChambeau’s commitment to increasing his body mass and swing speed paid rich dividends in 2020.

In addition to winning his first major at Winged Foot, he won the Rocket Mortgage Classic and consolidated himself comfortably within the world’s top-10.

He also went from 34th in Driving Distance on the PGA Tour in 2019 – with an average poke of 302.5 yards – to first in 2020, averaging 322.1 yards. 

• Schauffele describes “scary” COVID-19 ordeal

• Are you one of our Advent Calendar winners?

His main objective for 2020? More of the same.

“I’m going to keep getting speed until I try and get around 205 to 210, in that range,” he said. “Once I achieve those speeds and I’m comfortable with that – not trying to swing my butt off, it just happens naturally – that’s when I’ll probably stop and go down the chipping rabbit hole and try and understand my chipping and wedging a lot bit better.

“I still feel like there’s some low hanging fruit with the driver, the speed I can gain. It’s fun.”