Bryson DeChambeau's victory at the US Open will live long in the memory, as the American capitalized on late mistakes from Rory McIlroy to pick up a second Major scalp at Pinehurst No.2.
However, it all could have been so much different for DeChambeau, who was seen changing his driver head on the practice range prior to his final round on Sunday, with the 30-year-old now explaining the reason for it...
Asked about the change, DeChambeau stated: "I probably shouldn’t have changed the heads. I was trying to get a fresh head in there. It had a good curvature on the face, but it was a little bit lower loft. For whatever reason, those lower lofted heads have been missing right. Consequently I missed it right all day.
"A bit frustrating, but the face that I was using for the past three days was just starting to get flat. It was a nine-and-a-half-inch curvature. I won’t go over that. Essentially the face was starting to get a little flat. I wanted to get a fresh head in.
"I was driving it well on the range. On the golf course nerves got to me a little bit. I wasn’t as comfortable with it. Probably needed to work it in more, more than just hitting five balls with it".
The model in question is the Krank Formula Fire LD Driver, a club that DeChambeau put into play midway through 2023 to much success, including firing a 58 at LIV Golf Greenbrier, and this week's US Open victory.
For those who haven't heard of Krank, they made their name in the World Long Drive ranks, securing multiple championships along the way. Regarding DeChambeau's driver, it has six degrees of loft and a LA Golf BAD Prototype shaft that measures around the 45-inches mark. The “LD” designation in the name stands for “long drive,” and is designed for those who have a ball speed of over 175 mph.
During the first three rounds at Pinehurst No.2, DeChambeau had hit 86%, 50% and 57% of his fairways but, for the final day, he only hit 5 of 14, translating to just 36%. Thankfully, for DeChambeau, he was able to hit 61% of his greens on Sunday with his unique irons, with the American ranked 10th in the putting statistics, averaging 1.72.
