Bryson DeChambeau ranks as the longest players in the world off the tee in the last twelve months, across all major tours, but his incredible power and distance couldn't save him from a disappointing four-over-par opening round at the Masters.
After playing in the final pairing with eventual champion Rory McIlroy last year, who famously went on to secure the Career Grand Slam at Augusta National, many expected another strong display from DeChambeau.
I backed him to finish in the top-5 in my Masters betting tips, as he was arriving off the back of consecutive wins on LIV Golf, but he fell short in more ways than one.
Shockingly, DeChambeau doesn't even rank as the longest player in the field (according to official Masters stats), with three players outdriving him in the early proceedings.
Unsurprisingly, one of those names is Rory McIlroy, but I could not believe that a player ranked 90th for driving distance in 2026 also hit it further than Bryson off the tee...
3 Players Outdriving Bryson DeChambeau At The Masters 2026
Outdriving Bryson DeChambeau is some feat, especially when you consider he averages 313 yards off the tee on LIV Golf this season - and his average at the Masters in 2026 is even longer than that.
In round one, Bryson averaged 338.7 yards off the tee across the two designated holes for this particular measure. Bizarrely, that was 0.6 yards shorter than the average of Corey Conners, who ranks outside the top-100 longest hitters on the PGA Tour.
With one particular drive measuring 368 yards, Conners average was slightly skewed by one mammoth effort - but you have to it, right?
I am not convinced this is the most accurate way to measure this particular stat, but that's how it's done at the Masters so let's present the data as it is intended.
Chris Gotterup ranked as the longest on day one, with an average of 363 yards, while McIlroy (341.4 yards) took silver with an average that was more than 20 yards less than the four-time PGA Tour winner.
McIlroy held of Cameron Young in third place by almost a yard (on average), with Young just breaking the 340-barrier at 340.5 yards.
Bryson's average was six yards longer than the biggest hitter on the PGA Tour, Aldrich Potgieter, who struggled on the opening day. Despite shooting a 12-over-par 84, Potgieter registered a driving distance average of 332.4 yards.
That was longer than Nicolai Hojgaard (331.4 yards), Xander Schauffele (330.7 yards), Jake Knapp (330.7 yards) and Marco Penge (330.4 yards) who round out the top-10 on the distance leaderboard.
With plenty of golf still to be played and a necessity to push hard in a bid to make the cut, we could be about to see Bryson DeChambeau adopt a more aggressive style of play.
I'd expect his driving distance average to go up in round two, which might give Corey Conners very little chance of holding on to this particular accolade (if you can call it that).
