INCREDIBLE BULK

The Amazing Story Behind Bryson Dechambeau’s Transformation From Mini-Me Hogan To Golf’s Biggest Hitter

- MICHAEL CATLING

Bryson DeChambeau is taking golf fitness very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that his barrel-chested physique and grip-it- and-rip-it style is the talk of the Tour right now. Beefy Bryson has emerged from lockdown looking like a heavyweight boxer, having added 20 pounds of “pure muscle” during the three-month break. “People don’t believe me when I say it, but you don’t understand my work ethic at that point if you’re thinking it’s not muscle. I know in a year you can gain around 30 pounds, and that’s kind of what I’ve done in a shorter period of time.”

In total, the 26-year-old has packed on 45 pounds since and now weighs over 17 stone – three stone more than when he first arrived on Tour in 2016. The gains in the weight room have also led to huge gains on the golf course. A three-shot victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at the start of July – his seventh top-10 in a row – came as a result of averaging 350.6 yards off the tee, a new PGA Tour record for a winner.

He was a combined 69-under-par for the first four tournaments after the restart (20 shots better than secondplaced Viktor Hovland), subdued treacherous Winged Foot to take the U.S. Open by six strokes, and is on track to break the PGA Tour record for driving distance with an average of 323 yards this season, up from 21 yards this time last year. “The distance gain has helped me hit 9-irons and pitching wedges compared to 7-irons and 6-irons into holes,” says DeChambeau, who cites long drive champion Kyle Berkshire as his inspiration. “That’s a huge change for me that’s allowed me to go and attack flags a lot more, be more aggressive.”