This Brutal Lip-Out On 18 Cost Bryson DeChambeau $450,000
Absolutely heart-breaking. I haven’t stopped thinking about this lipout. That tiny razor thin margin was the difference of nearly a half milly. He was T-2 at -12 with that birdie putt in front of him and the opportunity to jump into solo 2nd. Solo 2nd at THE PLAYERS this year is a cool $1.635 million bucks.
What’s worse for Bryson is that he then watched Lee Westwood bury his own 15 footer for birdie to jump up and steal that solo 2nd for himself. Bryson went from thinking he may have just nabbed a $1.635M payday to falling back to a T-3 share with Brian Harman for $885,000. Just a casual $750,000 swing, nbd. If Westwood misses his putt, all three finish T-2 and walk with the same $1,135,000. So Harman caught the short end of the stick on that too, and that guy fucking BALLED today. He was damn near the only guy to go at that pin today on 17, and it paid off in a big way for him. He deserved all the dough he could get his hands on for that alone.
It was tough not to feel bad for Westy coming up a shot short two weeks in a row. Fair or not, he’s got that career long label as a loser. But when you realize that he stood over that 15 footer with the opportunity to steal an extra $500k and he buried it, ya stop feeling so bad for him pretty damn quick.
There’s not much better than a high stakes putt late in a golf tournament. I want to say Nate blogged this a few years back, but he’s absolutely right. There’s GOT to be more live on-screen graphics that talk and show about what’s at stake on every single shot.
Hell, the PGA Tour definitely has the technology. They are so obsessed with including live FedEx Cup standings updates based on current standings in a given tournament. The graphic on every single shot includes that little red or green number with the trophy outline and I have to explain what that is to every single casual sports fan I ever watch golf with.
THAT should be replaced with some sort of live payout number should their current standing in the tournament hold. And if they’re standing over a birdie putt, I want to know what that shift is for their tournament payout if he makes it and if he misses it. It would add so much excitement to watching, especially on Sundays. My eyes would be glued to every group finishing on 18. Do the right thing CBS and NBC. Do it.