The PGA Tour re-start has wreaked some havoc on the rankings and such, with the current top of the OWGR looking like this.
Yet with seven top tens in a row including a victory, and looking at the players in front of him, it would be hard to find a clear answer. Webb Simpson has been playing rather well. Dustin Johnson has a victory in there too, but without the same level of consistency. Xander was a lip out away from maybe making a case? Rory, Brooks, Tiger, etc all seem to trail the current run of recent success.
Is Bryson Dechambeau currently the de facto #1 player in the world? If not him, then who?
I reserve the right to amend my answer in about a month because of BAD keeps up his streak, it’s him.
Curious on Webb, so I looked up both of their 2020 starts. Its pretty darn close. Webb has the 2nd win, but also has a missed cut and a poor showing at WGC. Tough call, but both could possibly state their claim.
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Yeah, it’s close between them and I have Webb with the slight lead. He also had some memorable top tens from 2019 too and he was playing well at the end of the year. He is still Webb, but right now he has my nod. But as I said, it could change.
I would put it this way. Certainly, since play resumed, he is playing the best, imo. However, the measurement is what it is in terms of rankings. So, I would say it is easy to argue that he is currently the best player, but he will have to earn the ranking over time.
Not better than Luke Donald.
Look out PGA championship at harding and maybe, maybe the masters depending on that wedge play.
I also believe that this method he’s using is not sustainable. I can only imagine the gastrointestinal horrors that await him from consuming six protein shakes a day, and he is not immune to tweaking his back or another joint on a tee shot.
Do you think RBC Heritage at Harbour Town was a bombers course? Genuinely curious as it is not crazy long and ranks in the top 10 toughest many years.
Here is the top 15 in driving accuracy on the PGA Tour currently. Bryson is 112th, ahead of Rory and Brooks actually.
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Well said…
~Rock
He played smart that week and laid back with less than driver on a lot of holes and I think the greens were pretty receptive that week (if I recall there had been a lot of rain). My point is that his game may not be complete enough to call him #1 just yet. I want to see how he handles the majors with firmer greens combined with the need to hit fairways.
I definitely agree that a lot still has to be seen.
My question is, is hitting more fairways necessary, when looking at the players in front of him and where they rank in driving accuracy?
Or does hitting it past everybody, but having a 60% fairway percentage give an advantage?
I think hitting more fairways in the big events will be "more necessary" for him than some of the others due to his poor wedge play. I will be sitting with popcorn in hand watching because he is going to be VERY entertaining in the majors this year!
I think there are some courses where that will definitely be the case.
Although I do not think the poor wedge play is as real as people believe. Poor wedge play as a whole don’t allow for top tens in every tournament back since the re-start. In my mind anyway.
I also believe the Masters is very driver friendly. To me the biggest question will come down to his putting, more than the wedges.
So I guess, "almost" is my answer..
Would it though, if the wedge play is not as good as others’ wedge play, but he is hitting many more wedges? In other words, his wedge play may be less good than many other players, but his wedge play is better than most others’ 8 or 9 irons. Just speculation on my part…
Kind of a wake up call eh? Bulk up or shut up.
And how far is he hitting that 8 iron? Faldo referred to it (8 iron distance) on Sunday afternoon. On all full shots he is definitely hitting less club than most others would hit at the same distance.
He may be #1 soon, but he’ll need to win a major first, no player should ever be #1 without a big win IMO.
do i like it no
i want to see what he does at augusta
right now hes hitting it 400 yards and looks like hes playing on a local muni……………………………..
i want to see a course thats set up to beat his a$$ and then we’ll know
his putting stance looks like his driver stance
i mean hes as stiff as a 2×4
his wedge play looks the same and as a poor chipper myself i dont know how he chips looking like that
That’s my point. He gets to hit a wedge when somebody else is hitting a iron, so, even if his wedge play is not as good some others’ wedge play, his wedge play is better than others’ 9 irons.
I am not sure it is overblown when every expert in the game is talking about it. The reason may be off, but it is 100% the current weakest part of his game.
its like ugly play at its best i dont even want to watch it
It’s overblown because everyone jumped on that 155th season ranking in a very small sample stat. But looking at the actual proximity data from inside 100 or 50-125, for the last 4 weeks, not only are his numbers far better than before the break, they rank well, and they’re also even better than when he was winning in 2018.
It is the weakest part of his game, but that doesn’t mean it’s as bad as it’s been portrayed. It’s definitely not bad enough to consider changing his equipment, rather than continue to dial it in.
Exactly. You are spot on. He is hitting considerably less club. On Sunday, on the 17th hole, he had 230 into the green. According to Faldo, Bryson hit an 8 iron onto the green from the left rough.
Your not wrong, I still see it as his current weakness, and this was at soft and comparably easy courses. We will see how it stands up as the courses toughen up.
As probably the biggest one length proponent on the forum, this is not meant to be a diss. It is going to be very interesting to see where Bryson goes with all of this and it is so freaking interesting to watch. Those who don’t like one length in wedges would say that you cannot get the proper angle of attack, shaft lean, etc. to really control spin the way you need to at that most elite level of play in order to score with the wedges, particularly when wedges so often require partial swings. Some think Bryson should go to more of a two length set. I am not advocating this position, but I see their point. I hope he can do it. It is one of the most interesting golf stories to me that I have ever followed.
No doubt with this method.