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By Kent Gray
Bryson DeChambeau spent the evening after his impressive opening to the 30th Omega Dubai Classic on a luxury desert safari in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. But before the dune bashing in restored Jeeps and some authentic Bedouin hospitality beneath the stars of the 225 square km sanctuary, the 25-year-old American again took everyone on a journey to the outer reaches of golf thinking.

Like you should when you go up and down dunes, buckle yourself in for DeChambeau’s post-script to the summary of the “scrappy” but “happy” 66 he shot to sit just a stroke adrift of overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick at Emirates Golf Club.

DeChambeau was asked, for roughly the zillionth time, about his scientific approach. How far down the road are you in terms of nailing all the game’s seemingly infinite variables?

“From my knowledge of what I have about the game of golf right now, I think we’ve accounted for probably half of everything,” DeChambeau started after his bogey-free and best ever loop of the Majlis, eclipsing the 68 he carded in the third round in 2016 en-route to low amateur honours.

“We’ve still got a long way to go. Obviously there are things that ultimately I will never be able to control, which is wind, but if we can create an air tolerance that’s good enough, then obviously that’ll be better than most out here.”

Quite. Could you possibly elaborate on your quest to have a better understanding of this game than anyone has ever before?

“[I don’t want] to go out on the golf course and think, oh, it feels a little different today, I don’t know what it is and you can’t understand it. That’s not me. I want to be able to go, oh, it’s because of this and this and be able to calibrate for it and ultimately perform because of those unique and different conditions.

“So that’s what I mean. I’m trying to figure out different conditions, different atmospheres, different temperatures, different soil types, different firmness values of greens. Just everything, trying to understand as much as I possibly can so I can be consistent.”

Consistency is what the world No.5 went to seek on the range after his round and before his desert experience.

“I didn’t feel like I was hitting it my best, anywhere near my best today.  Scrappy, a little scrappy.

“It was mainly off the tee that I wasn’t comfortable, and so in that case, I’m trying to be a little more conservative off the tee, making sure I can get it somewhere in a spot where it’s okay, and then when I do have the opportunity to go for it, flag it. My irons are fine. I just need to go work on my 3-wood and driver.

“Just didn’t seem like I had it today. I was feeling pretty good on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday wasn’t great, and came out today a little scrappy and was able to get it around in 66 thankfully.”

Bryson DeChambeau, ladies and gentlemen. The gifted golfer who keeps on giving. Strap yourself in for the weekend.