'It's Been a While': Bryson DeChambeau Returns to Limelight By Leading at PGA

The 2020 U.S. Open champion looks different than he had recently but rekindled the old game with an opening 66 at Oak Hill, good for the clubhouse lead.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — At times during the past year and beyond, Bryson DeChambeau admits he wondered if there would ever be days like this again.

The incredible weight gain that was done with a purpose also exacted a health toll. There were injuries to his hip and hand. The controversial move to LIV Golf, a lawsuit involving the PGA Tour (that he has since abandoned) and another diet.

And a lot of bad golf.

But there was DeChambeau on Thursday, atop the PGA Championship leaderboard at chilly Oak Hill Country Club, relishing a spot in the limelight again after a period when it seemed to be for all the wrong reasons.

"It’s been a while," DeChambeau said after a 4-under-par 66 gave him the clubhouse lead by one stroke over Scottie Scheffler and Corey Conners. "So nice to come back and start to finally figure out what's going on with my golf swing.

"As I've told you guys before, I've struggled with my driving. You see me out there on the range. That's something I don't want to do. I don't want to be out there all night, but I've had to to figure out what I did so well in 2018 and what made me so successful then. I feel like I'm catching on and trending that direction. Figured out a couple things this week, and it certainly paid off today."

DeChambeau, 29, was lauded for his unique approach well before he began to add muscle and bulk in an effort to hit the ball farther.

Nicknamed the "Mad Scientist," he plays with single-length irons and a quest for knowledge.

After winning four times on the PGA Tour in 2018, DeChambeau seemed on the perfect path, but he later got interested in trying to maximize his ability to hit the ball far.

He went on an intense weight-gaining and weight-training program that saw him become the longest driver on the PGA Tour. He won the 2020 U.S. Open, added a popular victory the next year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and had several other close calls, including a back-nine lead at the 2021 U.S. Open and a playoff loss to Patrick Cantlay at the BMW Championship.

Oh, and remember the feud with Brooks Koepka?

All of that seems quaint now. DeChambeau suffered through injuries early last year, including a broken hamate bone in his left hand and a hip problem. He jumped to LIV, never finished better than 10th in 48-player fields and saw his world ranking plummet as LIV does not get Official World Golf Ranking points.

"A lot of diet changes and eating a lot, going from to 5,000 calories down to 2,900, whatever it is now," he said. "But eating properly instead of eating stuff that inflames my body. I took a Zoomer peptide test, which essentially tells what you 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. So a lot of changes in that regard. Obviously having the hand injury was no fun and then learning to play golf again with a new hand."

If it sounds a bit frenetic, well, it is. That is DeChambeau’s world, which has included the spat with Koepka, his rift with equipment manufacturer Cobra at the 2021 British Open, his split with a caddie ... and then the move to LIV, where he is was given an equity stake in his LIV Golf team called the Crushers.

Through all of that, there was not much golf. His seventh-place finish last week at the LIV Golf Tulsa event was his best in 12 events. And his best anywhere since he tied for eighth last summer at the British Open at St. Andrews.

"He played great," said Keegan Bradley, who played with DeChambeau and shot 68. "It looked like Bryson to me. He hit the ball great, putted great, drove it really nice. It was good to see him. He was smashing drives again, and he played pretty much flawless golf. Happy for him."

DeChambeau hit nine of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens. He made just two bogeys and led the field in strokes-gained off the tee and strokes-gained tee to green when he finished.

It was a pretty solid effort for a guy who has seemingly been in the golf wilderness for a long time.

"Hitting the driver straight, finally," DeChambeau said. "That's been the most surprising part because I'm so used to hitting it everywhere. Look, it could happen tomorrow. I don't think it will, but I feel really confident. Golf is a weird animal. You can never fully have it. Like Arnie (Palmer) said, you think you have it one day and then it just leaves the next. Just got to be careful."