Bryson DeChambeau continues to advance at World Long Drive Championship in dramatic fashion

Bryson DeChambeau had already exceeded expectations by advancing into the Round of 16 at this week’s World Long Drive Championship in Mesquite, Nevada, and on Friday, he had a chance to achieve his ultimate goal: to be crowned champion.

The final 16 players were whittled down from an initial field of 80. In order to make the Elite Eight, DeChambeau needed to rank in the top eight of the remaining 16 players. In the Round of 16, each player hit a maximum of 30 balls over five sessions. In each session, the player has two minutes and 30 seconds to hit six balls. The longest drive wins the session and earns 200 points. Second place is worth 100 points, third place is worth 50 points and fourth place is worth 25 points. Players who hit every ball out of bounds receive 0 points. The eight players with the highest cumulative points advance to the Elite Eight.

With more than 40,000 viewers tuning in live to the stream on YouTube and a packed grandstand onsite, DeChambeau rose to the occasion.

Conditions were slightly downwind, and at first, DeChambeau looked as though he might not claim any points in his first session, which included his mentor Kyle Berkshire, Martin Borgmeier and Nick Vorbeck. DeChambeau’s first drive went 389 while two of his competitors had drives over 400 yards. But then, DeChambeau blasted his fourth drive 416 yards (!) to tie Borgmeier for the session win.

“He belongs! What a stud!” The commentator enthused.

Berkshire was third with a drive of 403 yards.

DeChambeau was second his next session with a drive of 387 yards — two yards shy of Wes Patterson at 389 yards.

In Session 3, DeChambeau pumped out two 400+-yard drives, but his 403-yard best was only good enough for second to Colton Casto’s 404-yard pop.

DeChambeau had a quick turnaround into Session 4 — the second to last of his Round of 16 — and thre pressure was on to keep performing. DeChambeau was amped up and engaged throughout, gesturing to the crowd for noise and shouting after his best drives. Hi best drive of 396 yards was only good enough for third, behind drives of 397 and 408 yards.

With only one session remaining, a win became critical for DeChambeau, whose point total had him on the bubble in ninth place, to get him into the top eight. As the competitor directly ahead of him, Canadian Ryan Gregnol, fell to the ground with an injury, DeChambeau maintained his focus to blast a 394-yard drive — and he won the session!

With a total of 500 points, DeChambeau ended up eighth out of 16, meaning he just qualified for the Elite Eight, and is one step closer to claiming the World Long Drive crown.

*This post will be updated with DeChambeau’s results in the final eight as they become available.

Golf.com

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.