Of course, it’s not the 15 majors. Or the 82 PGA Tour titles. Or the Hall of Fame induction.
Of course, none of that explains the Tiger Woods phenomenon. You might say it’s a pass; perhaps we should get over it. But the U.S. Open once again restarted the hunt for the next Woods. For the better part of this year, Scottie Scheffler dominated the ‘next Tiger Woods’ debate. And then Bryson DeChambeau showed up at Pinehurst No. 2.
The Crushers GC captain has taken the crowd with him. The culmination was the ‘USA’ ‘USA’ chants you, me, DeChambeau, and about everybody heard on the 72nd hole at Pinehurst No. 2. That’s how we arrived here, to the ‘Tiger-esque’ vibe debate. But first, why bother with a man who doesn’t play regularly?
Tiger Woods brought to golf not just the physical prowess but also the quest to do something new, the creativity of his shots, and the unflinching bravado hitherto unseen in the game. Think of the 3-iron wood sliced from the edge of the sand bunker at Hazeltine. The 7-iron he thrashed from a 4-inch-thick rough at Pebble Beach. Or the time he used his 9-iron like a cricket bat from the sand bunker in the 2019 WGC-Mexico.
Rewatching the "best shot" @TigerWoods ever hit on repeat is the only treat we need this Halloween. #PGAChamp | #TopShotTuesday pic.twitter.com/OOGT0RgODC
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) October 31, 2023
Woods wasn’t always precise with the tee. Far from it. The youngster with a baggy teeshirt landed on the spots, which most would dread. It’s what Woods did afterward that made it a nail-biting thriller. This is what brings us to the Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler comparison.Bryson DeChambeaus is the new needle mover
Two years ago, or even one year ago, Bryson DeChambeau was the most polarizing figure in golf. It seemed he was a man bent on turning the game over his head. After a 6,000-calorie onslaught on his gut and some bust-ups with colleagues, the media, and a cameraperson later, the 30-year-old joined LIV Golf. and led a bunch of players in suing his former employer.
Recipe for disaster?
But LIV might have been the reason for the change. Greg Bodine, his longtime caddie, told Ryan Lavner of NBC, “They’re [his Crushers teammates] constantly trying to speak life into him and guide him.” Add YouTube to that, and DeChambeau found a way to show a side of himself that most didn’t know existed.
He is the greatest showman currently on any tour. Let the lined-up fairways at LIV Nashville speak for themselves. The audience gravitates towards him for good reasons. It’s a symbiotic relationship between them—DeChambeau feeds off the crowd. The very same crowd that was his biggest nuisance a few years before.
USA Today via Reuters
It’s not because of his’seize-the-course’ almighty drives. DeChambeau won the U.S. Open thanks to his poise and composure after hitting a bad tee shot. It’s his recovery—the clutch chip-ins and putts. His body language, the roars, and frustrations, which he likes to wear on his sleeve. That’s what also drove the fans into the hoard. But the real question is: can he sustain the momentum like Scottie Scheffler? If not, the USA chants won’t take time to die down.
Scottie Scheffler has one advantage (and a disadvantage)
Scottie Scheffler’s style of play stands in total contrast to DeChambeau’s. His ball-striking is on par with Tiger Woods at his peak. The scoring average is around the peak of the of the Woods era. Scheffler even touched Woods’s six-week OWGR streak. And he beat the former world no. 1 by netting six titles before July.
But golf is a game not played on a spreadsheet with numbers. While stats help, they don’t tell the whole story. They don’t tell why, despite breaking many records, Scheffler is still not considered the biggest needle mover.
The 27-year-old is methodical. The almost error-free game rules out any chance for a Tiger-like miss on the wrong side of the fairway. That also rules out any ‘only- Schoffler -could do that’ shots. The current world no. 1 is first in bogey avoidance. It’s not what he does; it’s what fans expect him to do, with Tiger-like expectations on their minds.
USA Today via Reuters
Whereas, DeChambeau’s pursuit for range off the tee lands him spots most would want to avoid. It’s a risk-reward game that Woods popularized. Few, if any, could execute it to perfection like he did, because few possessed the imagination and vision that the Stanford dropout brought to the game.
There, DeChambeau bore some striking resemblance to the former world no. 1. There were errors galore for the LIV Golf Pro in the final round of the U.S. Open. But his recovery from the tough spots won him the U.S. Open. and a lack of that on the Masters cost him the first green jacket.
And that’s where the road is for Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler. If they played on the same tour and competed against each other regularly, it would’ve been a study in contrast. Could DeChambeau’s fan support have piled more pressure on the two-time Masters champion? We would never guess unless both tours come together and both players prove their longevity. Even then, perhaps it would take the two to make up for one.
