The hallowed grounds of Augusta National won’t be making adjustments to the newly-implemented modernized Rules of Golf this week at The Masters, and Bryson DeChambeau won’t be making adjustments, either.
Speaking to the press on Monday ahead of the tournament, DeChambeau confirmed that his tactic of putting with the flagstick in will continue at Augusta National even though the club will use slightly different flagsticks than typically seen on the PGA Tour.
“If you get a unique situation where the flag isn’t sitting in the cup all the way and it has some wiggle room and it is blowing towards you, there will be certain times where I will pull the flag out just because the geometry doesn’t work at that point and the physics doesn’t work at that point,” DeChambeau said.
“So for me, I really try and look and evaluate the situation, see what the best strategy is. I think that’s the cool part about leaving the flagstick in now is that you start to see players’ strategies come out based on what they know about the whole situation, and so for me, on a downhill putt, if it’s not windy, I will definitely use it to my advantage.”
DeChambeau will be playing in his third Masters. In 2016, he finished in a tie for 21st to claim low amateur honors. In his only start as a pro last year, DeChambeau finished T38.
This year marks the first time he will play Augusta National in competition keeping the flagstick in, and even with their slightly thicker flagsticks, DeChambeau expects them to still provide an advantage.
“Shoot, if you do hit it too hard, it’s absolutely going to bounce out,” DeChambeau said. But my goal is to hit it two feet past and with the flagsticks right now, I don’t think that will bounce out in any situation.”
