AUGUSTA, Ga. — In his preparations for the Masters, Bryson DeChambeau imagined that Augusta National Golf Club was a par-67 course, instead of the actual 72, because he was mashing the ball so far off the tee.
Here was DeChambeau’s reality on Sunday: he finished with a 2-under 286, which was 15 shots behind leader Dustin Johnson when he finished, and he scored 2 strokes higher than 63-year-old Bernhard Langer, one of his playing partners, during the final 18 holes.
DeChambeau, the pre-Masters betting favorite, was tied for 34th when he came off the course. It was his fourth straight finish outside the top 20 at Augusta National.
“At the beginning of the week, I felt like I could have a great chance to win the tournament if I just played my game,” DeChambeau said. “Shoot, I made enough birdies this week and eagles to have a chance to win. There’s no doubt about that. I made way too many mistakes that I’ve got to talk about with my caddie and go, ‘Hey, how do we not make these mistakes anymore, how can we work better as a team to have that not happen?'”
DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in September, had two birdies, along with an eagle on the par-5 13th hole on Sunday, but also had a double bogey on the par-4 fifth and three more bogeys.
“At Winged Foot we did a great job of it,” DeChambeau said. “This week, we didn’t. We didn’t place it in the right places, and I mishit a lot of shots that usually are pretty easy for me. Numerous factors that were in play, but to have all this adversity and to still finish it off somewhat decent and be under par for the week is great, even though I feel like I shot 15 over for the week, really, to be honest with you. It was one of those things, one of those weeks.”
DeChambeau said he was still experiencing dizziness on the course on Sunday. He didn’t feel well and had a COVID-19 test on Friday night. It came back negative.
“I’ve got to fix whatever is going on up here,” he said. “I have no idea. Just dizziness. It’s only when I go from down to up, so I can’t even like think and talk right now. But that’s just what happens — I go down and up, and my brain gets all disoriented. I’ve got to fix that, and once I fix it I’ll be even better than now, and when something arises in the future, I’ll just keep trying to fix it.”
DeChambeau led the field in driving distance with a 324.4-yard average, but it didn’t even help him much against Langer, a two-time Masters winner, who plays on the PGA Champions Tour.
Langer averaged 250 yards off the tee, which was last among the 60 players in the field in the final round. Langer shot a 1-under 71 in the final round and was in a tie for 29th at 3-under 285 overall.
For instance, on the par-4 third hole, DeChambeau reached the green with a 328-yard drive. He three-putted from 66 feet and settled for par. Langer’s tee shot was 220 yards. He knocked his second shot to 14 feet and made birdie.
Langer was the oldest player ever to make the cut at the Masters.
“He’s an unbelievable iron player,” DeChambeau said of Langer. “He grinds over everything, doesn’t give up. His long iron play is stellar still, and I think that’s what makes him so amazing, and definitely I still look up to him. Even though I’m bombing it by him, he’s still playing better than me. It doesn’t matter. That’s the cool part about the game of golf. You can shoot a score whatever way you want, and he’s able to do it still at his age that way, which is pretty impressive.
DeChambeau said he wouldn’t make another start until the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii on Jan. 7-10.