Is Bryson Dechambeau Set To Miss The Rest Of The Season?
The 2020 US Open champion has been plagued by hand and hip injuries so far this year - and they don't seem to be healed just yet
Bryson DeChambeau could be forced to miss the remainder of the Major season as the questions over surgery or further time off are raised following his Masters missed cut.
The American shot 80 on Friday at Augusta National, his highest ever score in a Major, after a year so far that has been plagued by injuries. In six just starts in 2022, he has three missed cuts, a withdrawal, a T25 and a T58. Bryson has also seen his world ranking drop from as high as fourth last summer to 19th, and his FedEx Cup rank is down at 214th so he'd have work to do to make the Playoffs.
He returned at Augusta National, two months since his hand fracture after saying he was told it may take four months. He also said he went against doctors' orders. The year's Majors take place over the next three months so the reality of him playing in all three, or at least being fully fit in all three, now seems unlikely.
The eight-time PGA Tour winner had a torn left hip labrum and a fracture in his hand that were both made worse at the Saudi International after he slipped over on marble flooring whilst playing ping pong with Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann. "That really just took me out," DeChambeau said of the incident ahead of the Masters.
"One of the things I didn't do is take care of my hands and my hip like I should have, and I went pretty hard," he said. "Albeit I wouldn't do anything else to change what happened because it's made me a better person because of it. I've learned a little bit more about my body and how to respond and how to recover in a better manner. I'm probably around 80 percent right now. I can't go all-out. I can't do any speed training sessions. I can't practice for excessive hours like I have to figure stuff out.
"That's really when it just got to the point [after his ping pong injury] where I couldn't even grip the golf club. I tried to play that week, and it was impossible. I was not even gripping with my left hand that week. I was like, this is dumb, I have to go take care of my body first and get it right.
"That's what happened. And went and got a CT scan, MRI, and we found out that -- and X-rays in my left hip, was kind of -- I had a torn labrum, a partial tear. And then in the hand I had a hairline fracture in the hamate bone, which a lot of baseball players get from excessive hitting. That's kind of how it all happened.
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"Normally a bone fracture takes four months to probably fully heal; I'm back here in two. So, pleased with that. It was probably not one that my doctors recommended, but I decided to do so because I wanted to give this tournament a run. They recommended that I don't come back for a while. They said if you go out and hit golf balls and you feel somewhat comfortable, you consider it, and they are like, you should really let it heal. I'm like, 'man, this only comes around once a year, and I've got to give this a go.'"
Bryson divides opinion but he is a fantastic entertainer, and whatever injuries he has we wish him a quick recovery and return to our screens.
VIDEO: THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT BRYSON DECHAMBEAU
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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