SCORES ANALYSIS COMMENTARY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2020 B7
NAsked about his childhood as he stood on the
practice range at a golf tournament in Connecti-
cut this summer, Bryson DeChambeau said his
overriding memory was a conviction that a non-
conformist would eventually get more done.
“Even as a little boy, I always questioned every-
thing,” said a smiling DeChambeau, whose eccen-
tric, hard-swinging tactics and overpowering
performances have roiled the golf world this year.
“It’s how new things happen.”
With the pandemic-delayed Masters Tourna-
ment set to begin on Thursday, the bulked-up
DeChambeau, who bludgeoned the United States
Open field and an esteemed golf course on his
way to victory two months ago, plans to unleash
his most outrageous assault on golf’s traditions
yet. If successful at the revered Masters, which
draws voluminous worldwide television ratings,
DeChambeau’s gargantuan drives and muscular
wedge shots could change the paradigm of how
the game is played for the next decade, or more.
At least that will be DeChambeau’s ambition
when he sets foot on the first tee on Thursday as
the unquestioned tournament favorite at the ven-
erable Augusta National Golf Club, site of the
Masters since 1934.
“My goal is to inspire a new generation of golf-
ers to think differently and just go out there and
bomb it,” DeChambeau, who believes 400-yard
drives will become the norm during his career,
said in a recent interview. “Augusta would be the
right stage for that.”
DeChambeau’s plan is to reinvent golf much
the same way that a 21-year-old Tiger Woods did
during his seminal victory at the 1997 Masters,
with booming drives that led to a tournament
record for the lowest four-round score — and 26
other tournament records tied or broken.DeChambeau, 27, has gained more than 40
pounds in the past year and as much as 30 yards
on his tee shots, he says, because of an innovative,
borderline maniacal workout and nutritional re-
gimen. He swings with a ferocity — and velocity
— heretofore unseen on the PGA Tour, where
players for decades have been schooled to temper
their all-out swings in order to enhance assets
like tempo and rhythm.
Not DeChambeau, who swings as hard as he
can just about every time, especially off the tee.Bryson DeChambeau,
above, used brute force
to win this year’s United
States Open at Winged
Foot. Afterward, he flew to
Denver to work out with
Greg Roskopf, left, whom
DeChambeau calls his
“muscle specialist.”
HILARY SWIFT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESQuestion
And Smash
Everything
DeChambeau’s revolution
meets Augusta tradition.
By BILL PENNINGTON‘You’ve got to
recognize how much
he’s elevated the
discussion of golf
fitness and the
science of the game.’
PHIL MICKELSON,
on Bryson DeChambeauCALEB ALVARADO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESContinued on Page B10Awe and tension filled the air on that
sunny afternoon in the Rose Garden four
years ago this week. I could feel it, and so
could everyone else on hand: the sense of
celebration mixed with a gnawing worry
for the future.
There stood LeBron
James, regal in his double-
breasted suit but forcing a
smile, surrounded by the
rest of his team, the N.B.A.
champion Cleveland Cava-
liers. In front of them, President Barack
Obama held court, bestowing kudos and
lightening the mood by cracking wise.
“Give it up to the world champion
Cleveland Cavaliers,” Obama said, nod-
ding to the fact that the Cavaliers’ win
over the Golden State Warriors that
spring was the city’s first major sports
title since 1964. “That’s right, I said ‘world
champion’ and ‘Cleveland’ in the same
sentence. That’s what we’re talking about
when we talk about hope and change.”
It was Nov. 10, 2016. I’ll never forget it.
Two days earlier, Donald J. Trump had
defeated Hillary Clinton to win the presi-
dency. I’d been following the Cavaliers
closely, working on an article about Cleve-
land’s coach then, Tyronn Lue.
That’s how I found myself in the Rose
Garden, on hand to witness a scene woven
into the fabric of American sporting life:
the honoring of a championship team by
the nation’s chief executive.
Everything felt surreal. In the morning,
Obama had welcomed Trump to the White
House for a short briefing. To watch
Obama put aside the seriousness of that
moment and then commune with James
and the Cavaliers was to watch a presi-
dent bathe in a sort of healing balm.
That was not a surprise. Obama’s bond
with athletes, particularly with Black
athletes like the ones who made up the
bulk of the Cavaliers’ roster, was a hall-
mark of his presidency.
But it was more than that. The connec-
tion between presidents and athletes had
long been cozy, defined by a sort of low-
stakes ease. Nothing captured that rela-
tionship like Rose Garden ceremonies,
which came to regularly honor teams from
a wide variety of sports.
True, they were publicity stunts. But
they also held meaning. For decades, they
had provided a chance for people of all
political persuasions to bond over the
succor of success and the history and
power of the presidency.
But by 2016, the ease of such visits had
become complicated, even for Obama.
More, Trump was on the horizon. He had
already started picking fights with ath-Championships Come to Keep Score of a Deepening Divide
The N.B.A. champion Cleveland Cavaliers visited President Barack Obama in 2016, days after Donald J. Trump
won the election. Such Rose Garden ceremonies have since become increasingly politically charged.
ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGESKURT
STREETER
SPORTS
OF THE TIMES
Continued on Page B8