AUGUSTA, Ga. — LIV Golf League captain Bryson DeChambeau has used myriad strategies while trying to win a green jacket in the Masters, but none are as outside the box as the formula cooked up by the “Mad Scientist” this year.
DeChambeau told ESPN on Wednesday that he’ll play with a 5-iron that he fabricated himself with a 3D printer.
As a younger player, DeChambeau tried to attack the course, famously saying he would play Augusta National as a par-67 course because he was hitting the ball so far off the tee.
When that plan didn’t work, DeChambeau went more conservative over the past two years, leading to consecutive top-10 finishes in the first major of the year.
Now, the two-time U.S. Open champion is using perhaps his boldest tactic yet: He’ll try to win the Masters with at least one golf club he built himself.
“That’s the plan as of now,” DeChambeau said, after finishing a nine-hole practice round at Augusta National.
DeChambeau, who got his nickname because of his analytical, physics-based approach to golf, said he has been working on building his own clubs for years.
Why use at least one — or maybe more — in the Masters?
“Because they’re finally ready,” DeChambeau said.
The United States Golf Association would have to approve DeChambeau’s clubs before they are used in competition.
Before his second straight LIV Golf victory in South Africa last month, DeChambeau, 32, said he has been working with new wedges that have “almost a bubble on the bottom” with more head weight.
DeChambeau previously had manufacturer deals with LA Golf and Cobra; his relationship with the former ended in February. His bag currently includes a Krank driver and fairway woods, Avoda irons and Bettinardi wedges.
And a 5-iron DeChambeau built himself.
“There’s this nature that I have about myself where innovation is a habit of mine, and I really find and take pride in that ability to learn — even through failure, even through making a bad decision or a good decision — what I can get from that,” DeChambeau said.
Now, DeChambeau is ready to put his invention to test on the biggest stage in golf.
“We’ll see where it goes. We’ll see where it takes me,” DeChambeau said. “All I could say now is, if I don’t put them in the bag, it’s my fault now.”
