CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bryson DeChambeau had an early wake-up alarm set for Saturday morning. Very early. Even by the standards of an 8:10 a.m. tee time.
That’s because DeChambeau began the day in Dallas — where he went Friday afternoon after believing he had missed the 36-hole cut at the Wells Fargo Championship.
DeChambeau returned in the wee hours Saturday morning via a private jet, had less than an hour to get ready for the third round at Quail Hollow Golf Club and shot a 3-under-par 68, which included a double-bogey on the final hole.
“I am very tired,” DeChambeau said afterward.
DeChambeau admitted the issues were of his own making. After making a triple-bogey 8 on the seventh hole and missing a birdie putt on the ninth hole Friday — his last — the reigning U.S. Open champion believed he would miss the 36-hole cut. He was in about 90th place, and only the top 65 and ties qualify for the weekend.
But the conditions became windier, and a number of players started backing up. DeChambeau, who had finished at 2-over-par 144 early in the afternoon, didn’t realize that he was going to make cut the cut until he had already landed in Dallas, where he lives.
“We did a lot of scrambling last night to get back,” DeChambeau said. “One of the scenarios was turning right back around, but the crew couldn’t do it. So we had to get a new crew, and we were like ‘Well, let’s just go in the morning.’
“So I left at 2:45 [a.m.] on a flight, and I got here at 6:20 a.m. Drove 30 minutes to the golf course, put on my clothes in the locker room and headed out to the putting green. I did get a workout last night, though.”
DeChambeau said he spent the night at his home, went to bed at 8 p.m. and then got up early for the return trip.
“This morning was not easy,” he said. “But for whatever reason, I just feel like the more weird things happen to me, the greater my resolve sometimes can be, and today was a case of that. And got a little unlucky on 18, but other than that, you know, I played a great round of golf today. I’m very pleased.”
DeChambeau had five birdies Saturday before his final-hole double-bogey, which saw him leave a shot in a greenside bunker. And he had moved up into a tie for 28th.
The mistake was an expensive one. DeChambeau has a timeshare agreement with NetJets, which requires six hours’ notice to schedule and for the three-hour trip back to Charlotte was “way too expensive,” he said. “But we were very fortunate.
“But the thing is, I have a chance to go make a good check this week, and I think that would offset it,” DeChambeau added. “So if I was to not come back and withdraw, lose world ranking points and all of that. … I had to incur the cost. It’s my fault.”
DeChambeau said he learned a lesson as it relates to the cut. But at the time, he figured he had no chance. He wanted to get home to begin preparing for next week’s AT&T Byron Nelson.
“Sure enough, conditions kept getting worse, and by the time I landed I was in 64 or 63rd or whatever,” he said. “So I looked at Conner [Olson, a member of his team], ‘Well, whoops, that was a mistake.'”