Bryson DeChambeau, an SMU alum, had an up-and-down performance on the opening day of The Masters. He finished with an opening round score of two-under par. That is good to be five shots off the leader, Paul Casey.
DeChambeau is the consensus favorite to win the tournament at 8-1 odds, according to Las Vegas bookmakers. Those are the best odds in the field.
DeChambeau, the current top-ranked golfer in the world, came into the tournament with a mindset to drive the ball for distance off the tee box, which he showed today with a field-leading 334.5 yards per drive. However, he struggled with his driving accuracy, finishing at just 57.1% on the day.
On the front nine holes, DeChambeau fared well with a score of two-under par. This included two birdies on par-5 holes. Hole 13 proved to be cruel to him, though, as his ball found pine straw, bushes and the water before finding the hole to give him a double-bogey. Two birdies on holes 15 and 16 would redeem his misfortune, but he was unable to make any ground on his competitors.
DeChambeau tees off for the second day at 11:38 a.m. with Louis Oosthuizen and Jon Rahm tomorrow.
