- Bryson DeChambeau plans to attempt to drive the green on the 397-yard first hole at Bethpage Black.
- The success of the shot depends on favorable wind conditions and the firmness of the course.
- Team USA captain Keegan Bradley has encouraged DeChambeau to attempt the ambitious shot.
- DeChambeau and Justin Thomas will lead Team USA in the opening match of the 2025 Ryder Cup.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Bryson DeChambeau completed his 180-degree transition from golf’s heel to hero with one ferocious swing of his driver Friday, when he and Justin Thomas stepped up to the first tee at Bethpage Black to kick off the 2025 Ryder Cup for Team USA against Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton of Europe.
DeChambeau went for the green on the par-4, 397-yard hole with a decent dogleg to the right. It’s about 365 yards, DeChambeau estimated, to the front of the green, which had a back-pin location during practice rounds before the tournament.
“That’s nothing, right?” DeChambeau said Thursday, Sept. 25. “Just a normal long drive shot.”
Much of DeChambeau’s ability to reach the green depends on how the wind is blowing on Long Island at that particular moment. Should the wind be at his back, DeChambeau believes the green on No. 1 is “definitely drivable.” But a crosswind or hitting into the wind means he’d have to hit the ball 200 miles per hour to get there.
Also complicating his calculation is that rain, heavy at times, throughout Thursday would mean less roll out on the wetter fairways (or greens).
“If it’s downwind, I could definitely get the front edge,” he said, “if the conditions aren’t too soft.”
The stamped-down rough around the course, including on the first hole, is more forgiving if players’ first shots land out of the fairway – which makes people think about pulling driver and going for the green even more, Rahm said.
“You can afford to miss the fairway, be so close to the green and have a good chance of hitting it close,’ Rahm said.
He added: “I don’t know if I can get to the green, though. I would need a little bit of firmness on the fairways for me to maybe reach. I don’t think that I have the carry that maybe Bryson or Cam Young or Rory (McIlroy) may have.”
In the camera angles from directly behind DeChambeau, his line is directly at two trees that sit right of the bend in the fairway. On Tuesday, after playing the back nine holes, DeChambeau drove seven balls off the first tee toward the green.
“It’s a little rainy, but I bet if Bryson went out now, he could do it,” Ben Griffin said Thursday. “I witnessed him do it two days ago. Everyone else is probably playing it to the left. I know I certainly am right now. The wind has to be right. It’s got to be hot. It’s probably going to be pretty loud.
“He’s hitting it pretty good right now. I played a lot with him and he’s pretty confident.”
DeChambeau and Thomas being the first Americans off the tee was an intentional move by captain Keegan Bradley, who’s known his Friday morning combinations for some time, to take what would normally be an electric atmosphere to the next level.
“Yes sir,” Bradley responded when asked if he had given DeChambeau his blessing to attempt the shot. “Let him get up there. We want him to do what he does, and he got up there today and hammered one right in the front right of the green. Bryson thrives under this sort of atmosphere.”
During the practice rounds, DeChambeau also rehearsed his crowd interactions to incite the biggest pop, almost like a wrestler from the late 1990s “Attitude Era.” A two-time Ryder Cup player, Bradley said his nerves would cloud his expectations and focus as he approached the first tee. He does not believe DeChambeau is like him in that regard.
“I can see him walking out there just relishing the moment and relishing the chance to get up there and hit that shot,” Bradley said.