Joining the greatest at Augusta National
By Bill Felber
Where’s Bryson?
Conspicuous by his absence from this is the name of the 2020 U.S. Open champion, Bryson DeChambeau. Indeed, the math doesn’t work – not yet anyway – to project Dechambeau among the game’s all-time greatest even if he wins a second Major in three tries this week.
What it might do is set the stage for DeChambeau to make a breakthrough with a couple more strong Major showings this summer.
DeChambeau enters the 2021 Major season with a peak score of -0.39. Why so low? The reality is that prior to 2020, DeChambeau was – by Major championship standards – ordinary at best. Between 2017 and 2019, he played in 11 Majors, missing the cut in five and posting a best of t25 at the 2018 U.S. Open.
DeChambeau’s 2020, which included a tie for fourth at the PGA in addition to his dominant U.S. Open win at Winged Foot – was as good as anybody on Tour not named Dustin Johnson. His average standard deviation for the three majors was -1.43, second to Johnson’s -1.98 and well ahead of third place Scottie Scheffler, -1.06.
But it was just one season. What DeChambeau needs to insert himself into discussions about the game’s all-time greatest is another season or two of consistently strong Major performances.
Winning the Masters would certainly help that effort. But even a Masters win, measured in isolation, would likely improve Dechambeau’s peak rating to about -0.58, still well below the top 2000 threshold of -1.00.
If DeChambeau was able to win the Masters and follow that with a couple of top 10s in subsequent majors, he might threaten that top 200 list by season’s end. That, however, is a tall order.