Bryson DeChambeau, who led the PGA Tour in driving distance this season (323.7 yards), can use his great length to create an incredible advantage at times. At the 581-yard, par-5 fifth hole at Whistling Straits’ Straits course, a hole that bends to the right between two bodies of water, DeChambeau took an aggressive line down the right side in his Friday Four-Ball appearance with Scottie Scheffler and it paid off handsomely.
DeChambeau’s ball traveled across water and waste bunkers, finally settling some 417 yards from where it started, leaving DeChambeau just 72 yards into a par 5. For perspective, his partner, Scheffler, hit a nice drive down the left side that measured 305 yards. Scheffler had 274 yards left to the green. (His second shot went just long on the right side.) DeChambeau flipped a wedge to 4 feet and won the hole with the day’s first eagle.
Come for the 🦅, stay for the 417 yard drive 😳@b_dechambeau | #GoUSA pic.twitter.com/m1D1CdvtTQ
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) September 24, 2021
DeChambeau also hit a drive just long of the green at the 394-yard 14th hole, cutting off the dogleg, though he failed to get onto the putting surface with his second. With a favorable wind, a couple of players would borrow DeChambeau’s aggressive line at the fifth hole. Tony Finau and Rory McIlroy had less than 130 yards to the green at the par 5. McIlroy, playing in the group behind DeChambeau alongside fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, also made eagle on the hole, making a putt of 31 feet.
