MUSCLING IN ON THE BIG TIME
Champ DeChambeau sets his sights on more Major muscle
NEW US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau aims to add even more muscle before the Masters as Rory McIlroy questioned if his bomb and gouge blueprint is good for the game.
The barrel- chested American won his first Major title by six shots at Winged Foot on Sunday after adding 40lb of muscle over the last year.
The not- so- Mad Professor used his brawn and brain to overpower and outthink one of the USA’s great courses.
Now DeChambeau, who weighs 230 to 235lb ( 16.4- 16.7st) “depending on if I’ve eaten steak or not”, wants to get bigger and stronger – and increase his ball speed to above 200mph.
And the 6ft 1in star is already planning a similar super- sized attack on Augusta National in November by adding another 10lb to boost his power game.
DeChambeau, 27, said: “Do I want to get bigger for Augusta? Yeah. I think I can get to 245lb. It’s going to be a lot of working out.
“I’m not going to stop.
Next week I’m going to be trying a 48- inch driver. We’re going to be messing with some head designs and do some amazing things with Cobra to make it feasible to hit these drives maybe 360 or 370 yards, maybe even further.
“Length is going to be a big advantage at Augusta.”
DeChambeau used his big biceps to tear apart the conventional US Open game plan of patiently avoiding the rough by repeatedly launching his driver to leave the shortest shot possible into the greens.
He then used brute force to blast his way out of the four- inch rough.
He was the only player to finish under par despite hitting only 41 per cent of fairways – the fewest of any champion since 1981 – and finished in the top five for greens in regulation.
“I kept telling everybody that it’s an advantage to hit it
I keep telling everybody that it’s an advantage to hit it further
further,” said the new world No5. “I think I’m definitely changing the way that people think about the game. I hope I can inspire some people.” World No4 McIlroy finished ahead of the big- hitting champion in driving distance but still ended 12 shots back.
“I don’t really know what to say because that’s just the complete opposite of what you think a US Open champion does,” he said.
“It’s kind of hard to really wrap my head around it. He’s found a way to do it.
“Whether that’s good or bad for the game, I don’t know.”
Golf lawmakers banned the belly putter and could now act on driving distance with DeChambeau and runner- up Matt Wolff following Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka in smashing their way to success. DeChambeau added: “It’s tough to rein in athleticism. I don’t think that it’s going to stop.”