New look DeChambeau conquers Oak Hill as Scheffler lurks and McIlroy hangs on
ROCHESTER, NY - MAY 18: Bryson DeChambeau hits his tee shot on the fourth hole during the first round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Thursday, May 18, 2023 in Rochester, New York. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)
A slimmed-down Bryson DeChambeau turned back the clock to his US Open-winning exploits of 2021 and fired a four-under 66 to lead the PGA Championship at a brutal Oak Hill.
The LIV Golf player has slimmed down 18lbs over the past few months after piling on the weight using a high-calorie diet he felt would allow him to continue his quest for mega-distance off the tee.
The man they call the Mad Scientist used that big-hitting strategy to overpower another classically tough New York course, Winged Foot, to win the 2021 US Open and his first Major by six strokes.
However, he's lost none of his power despite his new diet and made six birdies in a four-under-par round to lead by a shot in the clubhouse from world number two Scottie Scheffler and Canadian Corey Conners.
Unlike Rory McIlroy, who did superbly to limit the damage to a 71 despite hitting just two fairways, DeChambeau (29) found nine and used his power to hit 15 greens in regulation.
"I mean, it's a fantastic round of golf at Oak Hill," the Californian said. "It's a prestigious place. Very difficult golf course. As I was looking at it throughout the week, I'm like, man, I don't know how shooting under par is even possible out here on some of the golf holes. "But, luckily, I was able to play some really good golf, hit a lot of fairways, did my job and made some putts."
There was as much interest in DeChambeau's physique as his golf, and he was only too happy to expand.
"Well, a lot of diet changes and eating a lot going down to 5,000 calories down to 2,900, whatever it is now," he said. "Carrie, my chef, she helps me out with that.
"But eating properly instead of eating stuff that inflames my body. I took a Zoomer peptide test, which essentially tells what inflames your blood when you eat it. I was allergic to corn, wheat, gluten, dairy. Pretty much everything I liked, I couldn't eat. I took that out. Started taking it out in August, and over the course of time, I've lost all this inflammation, lost a lot of fat and slimmed down like crazy.
"I lost 18 pounds in 24 days. It was crazy. It wasn't fat. It was all water weight. You know how I looked before. I was not skinny."
On a day when world number one Jon Rahm struggled to a 76, Rory McIlroy was thrilled to shoot 71, having turned in three-over par.
Fighting a mystery illness, he looked set to go four-over through 11 holes but turned his day around by making a 37-footer from a deep swale, five feet below the level of the second green and played his last seven holes in two-under.
"Messy … pretty erratic out there," McIlroy said of his day. "I didn't hit the ball well at all. Did really well to finish one-over in the end, especially where my third shot was or where it was lying in three on the second hole.
"To make that putter shot up the hill and save par and play the last few holes at two-under was a good recovery. But I have to play better than that to have a chance."
Understandably, the four-time Major champion was happy not to shoot himself out of the championship when feeling under the weather.
"I'm fighting something," he said. "I thought I got a great night's sleep last night, and I looked at my Whoop, and I was 22 per cent recovery, and my skin temperature was 3.5 degrees higher than what it's been.
"I'm fighting something. But I actually feel better today than I felt yesterday, so plenty of water and a bit of rest, I'll be fine."
As for his round, he bogeyed the 15th, 17th and 18th before sparking to life by making a 36-footer from off the second green for what he described as a "massive" par.
"Depending on what happens over the next three days and what I go on to do, you know, I may look back at that shot as being the sort of turning point of the week," he said.
Buoyed by that slice of fortune, he ripped his tee shot to two feet at the 209-yard third, then found just his second fairway of the day with a 347-yard bomb at the par-five fourth.
His 20-foot eagle putt didn't drop, but the tap-in birdie got him back to one-over, and he would follow a three-putt bogey at the 185-yard fifth with another birdie from six feet at the eighth.
