ORLANDO, Florida – Everyone loves a long ball.
In all sports. The 80-yard touchdown pass in football. The home run of the tape measure in baseball. The half court rocks basketball. And, of course, the long golf trips.
Years ago, John Daly attracted a lot of eye for his game because he got it farther than anyone else in the game. Then Tiger Woods appeared and it was longer than any other.
Today’s fascination with golf is Bryson DeChambeau, who drew a lot of attention last year for growing up and going crazy for a long time.
Throughout the week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Bay Hill, DeChambeau teased everyone about his intention to try to drive the green over a large lake at the 555-yard sixth par 5 hole.
In his practice round on Wednesday, he tried twice and fell short of the wind. The wind did not help enough in the first two rounds for him to try on Thursday and Friday, despite strong pressure from the spectators every time he reached the sixth tee.
In Saturday’s third round, however, DeChambeau gave the crowd what they wanted, taking an aggressive line across the lake and hitting his starting shot to the right of the green, a starting shot that covered a terrible 370 meters.
As soon as the ball came out of his pilot’s club, DeChambeau knew he had hit it, raising his arms in victory.
The spectators, who went crazy in the DeChambeau shot. But they were not the only interested observers.
Jordan Spieth, who played the first two rounds with DeChambeau and said publicly that he was upset that DeChambeau did not do what he did on Saturday on Thursday or Friday, was playing in the 7th just before DeChambeau and stopped on his walk to the green to watch the opening shot, pointing to his caddy, Michael Greller, where the ball fell.
Rory McIlroy, playing a hole behind DeChambeau, stopped and watched the shot.
Ultimately, DeChambeau hit the tee shot so well that he could have taken an even more aggressive line on the green and driven on the green. His opening stroke fell to the right of the green, he passed in front of the green and gave the birdie two putts to tie for the lead at that moment.