David Cannon/Getty Images
DeChambeau plays a shot from the 8th tee during the Pro-Am at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the Majlis Course at The Emirates Golf Club on January 22, 2020.

By Kent Gray
Bryson DeChambeau didn’t go where many expected he might in his defending champion’s press conference on the eve of the 31st Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

Perhaps it was taken as read that the Mad Scientist has concocted a cunning plan to quickly regain his complex game in the five days since that forgettable first event of the year. The next four days, or maybe two if there is an unthinkable repeat of his weekend off in Abu Dhabi, will reveal that anyway. For now, there were much juicier topics to explore.

From his overblown tête-à-tête with Brooks Koepka on social media, to dismissing scores in relation to par as “irrelevant”, to the size of fairways and thickness of rough with a Rory McIlroy twist, DeChambeau happily offered his typically considered and always engaging opinion. Heck, even Dubai’s traffic lights got the Mad Scientist’s seal of approval.

After missing the cut in Abu Dhabi by six-strokes, the 26-year-old American is clearly still searching for the “A+” game he feels deserted him last year after a three-win 2018, even surprisingly during his record romp to the Dallah trophy 12 months ago. But the line of questioning never ventured to his latest quirky range theory, perhaps because the other talking points were so absorbing.

DeChambeau quickly nipped any hint of a re-escalation of his social media feud with Koepka in the bud after taking a jab at the world No.1’s recent ESPN ‘Body Issue’ cover shot. “In [ESPN’s] Body Issue he didn’t even have any abs, I can tell you that”, DeChambeau told a mate during a Twitch stream last week. Koepka’s counterpunch was savage – a photo of his four major trophies accompanied by the caption “You are right @b_dechambeau I am two short of a six pack”. It was well played by Koepka and taken by DeChambeau in the tongue-in-cheek manner it was intended.

“It’s all good fun. I’ve seen him, actually, past few days where I’m staying, and everything’s fine. I mean, you know, it’s not a big deal,” DeChambeau said.

A far more interesting conversation starter came when the Ryder Cupper was asked to draw a correlation between the thicker rough at Emirates Golf Club this week and McIlroy’s comments last year about some European Tour venues being too easy.

Do you feel courses need to be toughened up considering how far today’s leading players launch it off the tee, and how low winning scores have become?

“I think in general, professional golfers are too good now to relate themselves to par.”

Interesting. Go on. “People look at it as relating score to par, and it’s almost impossible to try and get a tournament to play around par without it being unfair.

“So for me, I think that it’s irrelevant. I mean, you’re still playing at a golf course; there’s a certain width of fairway, certain length of rough, and you have a field to compete against. We’re not really competing against the golf course. We’re competing against the field.

“We don’t want to make it too difficult to where you hit a good drive and it happens to bounce in the rough, and then a guy that happens to mis-hit it, it goes in the fairway and that guy has a better advantage. I would say making it statistically proportionate and penalising as you go away from the middle of the fairway should be the real answer to it.”

DeChambeau later admitted he “didn’t drive it my absolute best but I was still able to get it done” last year on the Majlis, by a record seven stroke margin no less.

He has returned for his Dallah defence 14kg heavier than he was last January and is enjoying hitting it to places he’s never seen before. It could be a doubled-edged sword given the thicker fescue but he’s got a plan for that too.

“My wedge game is much improved I feel like. Personally I’m looking forward to the new test this week; the rough is a little bit longer, so being in the fairway is going to be key, and if you have a great wedge game, you can get up-and-down and fix those [driving] mistakes you have, it’s definitely a viable option to win.”

“But yeah, 3, it’s awesome to be able to hit an iron into 3. It’s great to be able to fly the corner more on 12. The 6th, you have a shorter iron in. All my irons, I’m hitting at least one or two clubs less which is nice. Last year, I hit 5-irons in on a few holes and that was a bit troublesome for me and now I’ve got a 7-iron, and it’s like, whoa, that’s nice.

DeChambeau plays a shot during the Pro-Am at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the Majlis Course at The Emirates Golf Club on January 22, 2020. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

“The par 3, 15, is another one where I was hitting 5-iron in last year, and now I’m hitting 7-iron, almost like a chip 7-iron. That’s pretty cool to see, and hopefully it suits me well.”

DeChambeau clearly feels at home on the Majlis and hinted at a return next year to take in Expo 2020.

“That’s something I wish I could be here for,” he said before reiterating his admiration for most things Dubai. “From a technological perspective, the buildings just seem way more advanced. They are beautiful to look at and fun to walk into. The Dubai Mall, going in there, it seems like everything is so nice and just clean, simple and easy. The tech, just going up to see the information boards, simple stuff like that, that may not mean much, but it’s pretty cool.

“Even the stoplights, they are unique in a way.”

Really? “I’m serious, they are unique where they flash green, letting you know it’s going to turn yellow and then red. I mean, that’s something that’s really helpful to somebody that’s looking and it’s green and you don’t know if it’s going to go yellow, but it gives you a head-up it’s going yellow. Some of that stuff’s really kind of cool to me, and I think it could be implemented in more places.”

The future, from a golfing perspective, was where his media conference was left. And DeChambeau left no one lacking any information about his priorities this year, outside of the immediate focus of this week.

You guys play maybe 22 weeks a year and there’s only four majors. How much of your mind space is taken up by the need to do well?

“All of it,” said DeChambeau whose best finish in 14 major starts was a share of 15th at the 2016 U.S. Open.

“All of my mind is taken up for the need to do well in the majors. That’s what I haven’t done well in particularly in my career so far, and I am keen on changing that.”