Bryson DeChambeau has enjoyed an excellent week at The Masters, no matter what. 'The Scientist' is the leading LIV Golf League player heading into Sunday at Augusta National and was the solo first-round leader thanks to a sublime 65 on Thursday.
Yet, he begins the final day of action four strokes back of Scottie Scheffler after a frustrating time on the greens during his third round. It could have been even worse, too, save for an outstanding hole-out birdie from the fairway on 18.
DeChambeau hit 30 putts across his penultimate 18 holes this week - three-putting on a hat-trick of occasions and making his quest for a first Green Jacket all the tougher.
Speaking after his round of 75, the 30-year-old detailed his struggles on the greens and joked that finishing a hole off with an iron was a simpler prospect for him at the time.
DeChambeau said: "I hung in there. Missed wedge shot on 9; great birdie on 10; three-putt 11; two-putt 12; three-putt 13; make a birdie on 14; get a pretty horrific break on 15, and then dropped it and just nestled down, and I had nothing. 16, three-putt; 17, almost three-putt; 18 hole I just figured was easier than putting, jokingly obviously."
Part of the skill behind doing well at Augusta is being able to read greens with only your senses as green books - which show a player the direction and degree of slopes on the putting surface and are commonplace on most professional tours - are banned at The Masters.
DeChambeau was statistically the second-worst putter in the top-10 during round three, ahead of only Tommy Fleetwood who made 31 putts but only three-putted once.
And without the helpful book aid in his back pocket, DeChambeau admitted he was going to have to find another way to sort his short game out.
He said: "Yeah, I'm going to look back on this one and try to figure out how to putt well, putt better on these greens and control the speed a little bit more.
"I haven't been able to use the foresight on the putting green, which is another variable that gets thrown in, which is totally fine. I've got to be able to conquer it. Nobody else is doing it, and they're able to putt just fine. I've got to learn.
"Just like the greens books. We're not able to use greens books out here, I've had to learn and adjust to that. This is just another step. I've got to figure out, when the greens get this firm, this crisp, how to control the speed just a little bit better."
A standout feature of DeChambeau's woes with the flat stick on Saturday related to just how far he was running the ball past the hole when failing to find his target - a far cry from his quality performance on Thursday.
He was far from the only player struggling in that regard, however, as the drying conditions throughout the week added significant speed to what are already known as perilously difficult greens to putt on.
Asked how much different the greens were to putt on, comparing Thursday and Saturday, DeChambeau said: "I mean, 180 degrees different, yeah. I'm talking they're probably rolling what I thought was like 11s, and they're up to 13, 14s on some putts, especially on 13. I hit a great putt, and that thing just rolled seven feet by. I hit it literally three feet, and it should have been a 1 1/2 footer. It was tough."
DeChambeau will tee off alongside Xander Schauffele at 2:15pm ET (7:15pm BST) on Sunday, hoping he has naturally recalibrated his putting game as he searches for a first Masters title.
