From Augusta National: Bryson, Seeking To Put 'Par 67' Behind Him, Opens Masters With Seven-Under 65

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AUGUSTA — He shouldn't have said it, and he knows it. Bryson DeChambeau, now 30 years old and far more physically proportional than he used to be, has a sense of self-awareness he lacked back in his beefier days. 

"Regarding the 67 comment—you know, you mess up," DeChambeau said. "I'm not a perfect person. Everybody messes up. You learn from your mistake, and that was definitely one."

He's referring, of course, to when he said, in the afterglow of his Winged Foot triumph, that he was thinking about Augusta as a par-67. He could reach the par 5s in 2 and he expected to drive the 3rd green. It makes sense on paper, but it's just not something you say. A mistake indeed.

He made exactly one mistake on Thursday at the Masters—a bogey at the 9th. He was nearly perfect on the other 17 holes, picking apart Augusta National with one power-draw after another to card a seven-under 65. It's his-best ever round here and puts him in excellent position to finally better the T21 finish he posted in 2016 to win low amateur honors. 

"It's always great getting off to a hot start," he said, "3-under through the first three holes kind of gets you settled. I knew it was going to be a tough day today with the wind and even tomorrow. So a lot of patience is required around this golf course and making sure you're just stroking on your line, putting it good, hitting good iron shots and driving it well. In order to win major championships, you've got to—especially out here, you've got to do everything well."

He knows what it takes to win major championships because he's won one, of course. It feels like a lifetime ago. That was back when he was slamming protein shakes and breaking out in acne. Since then he's thrown his equipment company under the bus then left said equipment company, took a gazillion dollars to go to LIV Golf, eased up on the weights, retired the Ben Hogan hat and put far more effort into his YouTube channel. It's made all the difference. He presents a much happier, healthier person than he did four years ago, when he was the center of attention at every golf tournament he entered. 

"I mean, it's been a journey, to say the least. One that I have thoroughly enjoyed, but also it's taken a big toll on me in numerous situations. I will say that I've learned a lot from it, and a lot of it was things that weren't really in my control at that point in time. I won't go into it. But I'm in a place now where I've figured some stuff out with my golf game, golf swing. I'm just in a comfortable place where I'm doing the same thing every single week…I mean, it's crazy, I've gotten a crazy amount of love on Snapchat. Getting over like a million views a day on Snapchat and these people coming out of nowhere and Patrons saying, I love your Snapchat. Like really? They are loving it that much? That's awesome…You look at what MrBeast has done, and there's a few other super famous people right now, Jynxzi and Sketch, and they are growing their avenues and their aspects, and it's cool to see the cross-platforming capabilities."

You might know who those people are and you might not. You might find that diatribe charming or cringy. He doesn't seem too bothered either way, and that's a marked difference from years past. The move to LIV Golf has, since the initial news cycle, taken him out of the spotlight a bit. He desperately needed it.

"I've dealt with (flack) my whole life. I was always different growing up and I learned pretty quickly that not everybody is going to agree with you or like what you're doing. My mom always told me to respect others and treat others the way you want to be treated. I try to do that as much as possible. And when somebody doesn't agree with me, I respectfully say, okay, appreciate that, but I think it's this way, and we're just going to agree to disagree…You can't figure everything out, and you're not always going to be right. Respecting that. Respecting Father Time and understanding that -- enjoy the ride. Smell the roses."

And the azaleas.