Cameron Champ: Examining How Long He Really is on the course

If Cameron Champ can learn to find the fairway with more regularity, he may be unbeatable. The reason, of course, is that he’s ridiculously long off the tee.

He’s leading in driving distance, a whopping 335.2 yards on average according to the PGA Tour. That’s through just seven weeks of the 2019 season, his first on the PGA Tour. According to Cameron Champ, the distance thing just came naturally.

“I would say I’ve always been long, since I was a kid,” Champ explained to media at the RSM Classic. “Obviously as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten gradually a little bit longer, but it hasn’t been much since I was 15, maybe 10 or 15 yards since then. I’ve just kind of always been a long player.”

His lengthiest drive to date was 415 yards, but it was at elevation and downwind, at the Web.com Tour event in Utah. Still, four football fields, plus. Makes you shake your head.

It almost makes his average distance of 335.2 yards seem puny by comparison. To the rest of us humans, it is otherworldly.

Amazingly, that’s what’s coming down the pike on the PGA Tour. Champ’s just four yards ahead of Luke List, nine ahead of Kevin Tway, Brendan Steele and newcomer Wyndham Clark. He’s averaging 15 yards off the tee farther than Tony Finau. And he’s – hold your breath – 32 yards longer than Tiger Woods, who used to obliterate fields with his length.

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The big difference between Champ and those who are just behind him in the distance stat is that Champ has that winning gene. He won his first PGA Tour title in just his second PGA Tour start. So, in addition to distance, he has that extra something, special sauce or moxie or whatever ingredient it is that propelled him into the winner’s circle early.

To give a comparison, it took Tiger Woods five tournaments to notch his first title. Of course, Woods was under the media microscope, but if Champ keeps this up, he will start to see the glare of spotlights soon enough.

There are a handful of golfers who won in their first PGA Tour event including Ben Crenshaw and Russell Henley. But more often, it takes a year or two or three. Some never win.

Amazingly, when it comes to Champ, as they say, there’s more. His most frightening stat is short putting. He’s No. 1 in putts from three feet. He’s made every one of them in the tournaments he’s played this new season. If he can keep that up, goodness knows what could be in store. Imagine a guy who doesn’t miss three-footers. Shades of early Tiger Woods.

While it’s amazing how far Champ hits his drives, he’s no slouch with the rest of his bag either. However, he has one odd club combination, two 4-irons, which he calls his regular one and “The Bigger One.”

The regular one goes 230-240, varying with the weather conditions.

“Then the bigger one, we just call it The Bigger One, the bigger 4 is kind of, you know, 250 to 265,” he explained, “depending on conditions, on grass, on tee.”

No matter what the announcers tell you, here are distances Champ said are accurate for the rest of his clubs:

3‑iron, bent strong, almost like a 2-iron, 285- 290.
5‑iron — 210 to 225.
6‑iron — 195 to 210.
7‑iron — 180 to 195.
8‑iron — 165 to 180.
9‑iron — 155 to 165.
PW — 140 to 155.

Those are what Champ calls stock numbers for his clubs which he said means an 80 percent swing. He doesn’t carry 3-wood.

“If I have a situation where I need to add a little more, take a little more off, I can do that as well,” he added. “I rarely hit a full shot.”

For those wanting to watch Cameron Champ blast a few golf balls into orbit, he plays early on Thursday, so it’s unlikely he’ll be in the televised groups unless something extraordinary happens in his round. Friday, though, because he’s playing with tournament host Davis Love III in and is in the later starting times you will have a good chance to watch this extraordinary talent.

Television times are 1:30 to 4:30 eastern on Golf Channel and replays are after midnight. Depending on your schedule, you might need to set your DVR to see the longest hitter on today’s PGA Tour.

Next. RSM Classic: Power Ranking the Top Ten at Sea Island. dark

If you are someplace near Brunswick, Georgia, there are still tickets to the RSM Classic available. Proceeds, as with all PGA Tour events, go to charity. Tune in or head to Brunswick to see Cameron Champ, the longest hitter on Tour.

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