2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions: Top 10 power rankings at Kapalua
Bryson DeChambeau departed 2020 with a sour taste in his mouth from a disappointing Masters. Fresh off his maiden major championship victory at the Masters, DeChambeau managed just T-34th at Augusta National.
He finished T-4th in the other major of the year, the PGA Championship. He strung together a bunch of post quarantine top-10s and began to assert himself as one of the PGA Tour’s more entertaining figures, for better or for worse.
The big goffer missed the Tournament of Champions in 2020 but earned two wins to get back for 2021 (PGA, Rocket Mortgage Classic). He’s never posted an over-par round in eight loops around Kapalua. The SMU product finished 26th in his 2018 debut (73-73-71-72) and improved significantly with a T-7th in 2019 (69-68-70-71).
Wide fairways like these will give Bryson even more of a green light to pound driver. The drastic elevation changes will certainly have him licking his chops when he plays downhill and down breeze.
He played much more strategically in 2019, averaging just 277.5 off the tee but hitting 75% of fairways. Expect the first number to go up, the second to go down and perhaps his score to go down.
The 27 year old ranked first on Tour last season in SG off the tee (1.039) and is first again so far in 2020-21 (1.297). While his wedge play has a ways to go, he showed us this year he could roll in putts consistently (10th, .658)
DeChambeau didn’t partake in any silly season events in December. Instead, he was up to his usual tricks of showing off his chase for more clubhead speed on his social media channels. Not to mention a few trick shots here and there.
I’m sure he continued to work hard during the short offseason and may be sharper than others coming into the first event of 2021.
I don’t like him to come out right away and win, but he’ll remind us he plans to remain up there with some of the game’s best.