It was an eclectic bunch who made up the front row of the gallery watching Bryson DeChambeau tee off at Royal Troon in conditions that, no pun intended, could only be described as driving rain.
There were a bunch of men donning yellow flat caps in homage to the US Open champion’s look during his college and earlier professional career. But the big difference between the followers who witnessed him finish in a career-best eighth place two years ago in St Andrews was not just the swelling of the ranks, but the addition of teenage girls and young women.
Young men always seemed to have an affinity for the 30-year-old Californian, but this female interest is something that the sport has long tried to cultivate. DeChambeau’s starting gallery was comparable in size to that of home favourite Bob MacIntyre, and the obvious duo in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The energy was coming from those young eager teens – one group of locals toting Harry Potter backpacks were oohing and ahhing as DeChambeau made his meticulous preparation for teeing off. Korean, Japanese and American female students were also almost cooing “Go Bryson”.
The only other time this sort of excitement came from a young female audience on a golf course in recent years is when former One Direction member Niall Horan pays a visit. The Irish singer-songwriter has his own golf agency Modest! Golf and has worked with the R&A to try to answer the eternal question of “how to make golf cool?”
As Hana, a Korean-American who had been on a study exchange in London this past academic year, explained: “I think young women and teenage girls are drawn to him because he has such a strong sense of who he is, to me he is a lot like Taylor Swift, he is super-talented, and like her he has had a whole bunch of different eras – you know he started as this skinny kid with a flat cap as the low amateur at the Masters, then he was like the Mad Scientist, then he bulked up and now he seems to have reached a new peak with his US Open win.
“Young people get him because he isn’t afraid to embrace being a nerdy guy but I guess he is a jock too, plus his YouTube is pretty cool.” There is no doubting that DeChambeau has a charisma that draws all ages and his social-media savvy seems to be engaging a younger audience.
However, despite what one more mature woman described as “Bryson’s Hollywood tan and bright white teeth” – there was a tension in his body language, particularly in his shoulders in the opening holes. That tension translated into a bogey on the first and a further three, plus a double bogey, on the front nine. The LIV golfer was better on the back nine and, despite one more bogey, rewarded his fans with an eagle on the par-five 16th.
With flushed cheeks and flashing his broad grin, his shoulders began to relax and there were spectators scampering to the 18th fairway as he unleashed a 406-yard drive before carding a five-over 76. DeChambeau simply pledged to “figure it out” for today.
This shows he has moved into a different stage in his career, one that may not produce as many soundbites for the media but shows a steadiness that perhaps was not there in 2021 at Royal St George’s when he proclaimed: “This driver sucks.”
It is clear from this round DeChambeau can move the dial in the same way as only McIlroy and Woods and is helping to attract a new audience. His fans here at Troon will be hoping he “figures it out” overnight, so they can continue to be entertained by this most intriguing character and player over the weekend.
