Data Golf discredits Bryson DeChambeau’s 58

Bryson DeChambeau produced one of the most incredible rounds in the history of professional golf to win LIV Golf Greenbrier last week.

DeChambeau’s mind-blowing 58 included 13 birdies and one bogey as he followed up his Saturday score of 61 to blow the field away in West Virginia.

It was just the seventh round of 58 ever recorded on a professional golf tour, such was the rarity of DeChambeau’s astonishing feat.

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The 29-year-old has earned plaudits across the world of golf and there are now growing calls for him to be named as one of Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks in the US Ryder Cup team.

“No matter who or where you are playing, 58 on a Sunday to win is an incredible accomplishment!” Jon Rahm reacted.

Sergio Garcia, meanwhile, was keen to point out that DeChambeau’s 61 in round two made his final round birdie blitz even more impressive.

“To me, it’s not just the 58 that’s impressive, it’s the 61 the day before,” Garcia explained. “I don’t think people realize how hard it is to shoot two rounds like that back to back.”

From this week's newsletter, some data on Bryson's 58: pic.twitter.com/O0yXcOVAOk

— data golf (@DataGolf) August 9, 2023

But one leading golf data company was not quite as impressed with DeChambeau’s 58 on the sodden Old White course.

According to Data Golf, DeChambeau’s 58 was the ninth best round of the year and only the 328th best round in tour golf since 2004.

Data Golf claim that based on ‘true strokes gained metrics’ with strength-of-field calculations, DeChambeau’s round wasn’t as great as people would think.

The top-ten on Data Golf’s list includes DeChambeau’s round of 60 at the 2021 BMW Championship, but his 58 is way down the rankings.

This is because, based on their calculations, DeChambeau only gained 8.74 shots on the other 46 players in the LIV field (Charl Schwartzel was a withdrawal), which didn’t warrant a strength-of-field adjustment.

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It is also noted by Data Golf that the Old White “played almost three strokes under par for the week, averaging 66.74 in the final round.”

And DeChambeau’s round is also diminished as “only three courses have yielded a lower single-round scoring average on the PGA Tour since 2004.”

Despite their reasoning, the Data Golf breakdown has certainly raised eyebrows.  Seldom has a player ever gone around a golf course in just 58 shots, never mind doing it to win a $4million golf tournament.

And it is perhaps the importance of the moment that is most notably not accounted for in Data Golf’s findings from DeChambeau’s history-making round.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.