DORAL, Fla. — With the first round of the Masters only six days away, Bryson DeChambeau has Georgia on his mind. Just not the part you’d think.
MORE: What golf gets wrong about Jordan Spieth
As the reigning U.S. Open champion, and with a career-first top-10 at Augusta National last year, fans could expect the two-time major winner to go to bed dreaming of the back nine on Sunday at the Masters with a chance to claim a green jacket.
He is, but after shooting a three-under-par 69 at Trump Doral during the first round of LIV Golf Miami, where he sat two shots behind first-round leader Patrick Reed, DeChambeau had a mystical, “Field of Dreams”-type answer when asked what he was most looking forward to about Masters week.
“I honestly love the atmosphere. It’s one of the most peaceful places,” DeChambeau said Friday. “My favorite moment is when the sun is kind of setting and everybody has kind of gotten off the golf course and you’re just hitting golf balls by yourself or a couple other pros … and you see the sun going down. That’s what I look forward to a lot coming into next week, other than playing well and giving myself a chance. I really enjoy those moments after the round practicing hard into the night.”
With two U.S. Open trophies in his cabinet—along with a YouTube channel garnering millions of views per episode—DeChambeau feels mentally prepared to take on Augusta, a course that had spooked him since finishing T-21 as an amateur in his Masters debut in 2016.
“I’d say I’m in a great frame of mind. I’m happy about life,” he said. “Got a lot of positive things going for me, not only in YouTube but outside of that, in business, and just the people that I have around me.
“I think we’re stronger than ever, and that’s what matters most, ultimately. Yeah, putting on a green jacket, winning the U.S. Open trophy, winning the Open Championship, the PGA Championship, that’s all great. But really what matters to me is the people that I have around me and who I can trust.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
