The inevitable fallout on the PGA Tour of Bryson DeChambeau winning the US Open with his bombs-away strategy was that previously sceptical peers might be more willing to give the method a try. But it’s one previously sceptical peer doing the trying in particular that seems most intriguing.
Rory McIlroy notably praised DeChambeau on the Sunday of his victory at Winged Foot (“It’s kind of hard to really wrap my head around it.”) but did so with a seeming caveat.
“So I think … about the guy, I think it’s brilliant, but I think he’s taken advantage of where the game is at the minute,” McIlroy said. “Look, again, whether that’s good or bad, but it’s just the way it is. With the way he approaches it, with the arm-lock putting, with everything, it’s just where the game’s at right now.
“I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. He’s just taking advantage of what we have right now.”
Earlier in the year, when asked if he might consider bulking up like DeChambeau to help increase his swing speed and get more distance, McIlroy noted he wasn’t inclined to do so sine he felt he typically hit it farther when he was smaller.
And yet, on his Instagram story feed over the weekend, McIlroy shared a look at some numbers on a launch monitor in which he appeared to follow DeChambeau’s swing-it-hard lead with some eye-popping results.
Mind you, McIlroy was already no stranger to long drives; he has averaged between 306 and 319 yards in driving distance on tour each of the last five seasons. And whether he decides to crank it up in a tournament setting isn’t clear.
However, if McIlroy was fretful of DeChambeau “taking advantage” of today’s technology, it’s not enough to keep him from exploring whether it could work for him, too.
