Early on Friday morning here in the United States, Bryson DeChambeau withdrew from his second tournament -- the Saudi International -- in his last three scheduled events. He cited a left hand and left hip injury, and then the confusion started.
DeChambeau posted on Instagram shortly after the WD that everyone needed to "chill" about how his pursuit of extreme distance is affecting his body. Instead, he noted it was actually a freak accident a few days before the Saudi International that contributed to the latest withdrawal.
"Everyone needs to chill. Yes I hurt myself but not from hitting it far," DeChambeau said. "I slipped and fell this week on Tuesday unfortunately. I know people probably won't believe me, but that is the truth. I will be back stronger and better than ever in a few weeks. Thank you for the hospitality, @SaudiIntlGolf. Thank you for your concerns and keep hitting bombs! I will be back..."
That may be true of his hip, but it's categorically not true of his hand. How do we know that? Well, on Jan. 13, coincidentally at a press conference for the Saudi International, DeChambeau said speed training had been contributing to a weak wrist that forced him to withdraw from the Sony Open before it started. It then played a part in a missed cut at the Farmers Insurnce Open a few weeks later.
"It was the left wrist," said DeChambeau. "It's been bothering me for about three or four weeks now, all of this speed training and whatnot, definitely taking a toll on the actual muscular structure. Initially, when I said my hands were killing me, it was more of like the skin back in late last year. Then now it's just gotten to a point where I'm putting so much speed and force into the wrist that we haven't been taking care of the wrist ...
"I know I talk a lot about that on my YouTube channel and whatnot. We've got another one coming out about how to fix my wrist. We just did a video on that. So it will be coming out this next week. This guy is a magic man. So I'm very, very blessed to have somebody on my team like that who can help put me in a direction like that, a positive direction like that. Yeah, I'm very lucky to have someone."
He did produce that YouTube video four days later, and the opening line of it was very clear.
"My wrist isn't feeling that great, and I haven't had anything really happen," he said. "I probably could have played, but I didn't want to aggravate it any more. One of those precautionary measures for me for the rest of the year. I've been going pretty hard at the golf swing.
"My core, my trunk rotation, trunk flexion, that's something that's gone off on me and been really bad about four or five years ago. I've been able to fix it and work through the past few years. I've learned a lot about how to band-aid my back. I've done a really good job. We haven't done the wrist as much, or hands or fingers as much, because it's way down the line and takes a long time to get to that. But sometimes the weakest link is going to show up."
Perhaps we're simply discussing semantics here, but it does actually seem like speed training is, in fact, contributing to DeChambeau's injuries. And perhaps his WD in Saudi Arabia was more because of the hip than the wrist, but if so, then why cite a left hand injury at all?
The truth is -- as it always is -- likely somewhere in the middle. I don't doubt that DeChambeau did fall in Saudi Arabia, which contributed to his WD. But I also don't doubt that his speed training has become a bit of a nuisance in terms of how it's affecting his wrist. I don't doubt this because DeChambeau literally told me so.
No matter what the source of these injuries was, there is reason for concern as we head into one of the thickest parts of the entire golf year. Since playing well in the FedEx Cup Playoffs and Ryder Cup last fall, DeChambeau's trajectory has been poor. He finished T14 at the Hero World Challenge in a field of 20. He finished T25 at the Tournament of Champions in a field of 38. He has a missed cut and a WD in his last two starts. The kraken appears to be lost.
He insists all is well and that he'll be back "stronger and better than ever." That could happen. DeChambeau will presumably defend his Arnold Palmer Invitational title at the beginning of March, and then go to the Players, where he also had a ton of success last year. In the long-term, I think what he's doing -- as long as his body can handle it -- is smart. But that's the question, isn't it? Can his body handle it?
Perhaps it can. I hope it does. Nobody creates more or better golf content in this little ecosystem in which we all exist. But this is not nothing, despite what DeChambeau purported via Instagram in the days after his WD in Saudi Arabia. I don't know that because of a hunch or because of intuition or because I'm reading between the lines in interviews. I know it because DeChambeau himself told me over and over again on a variety of platforms over the last few weeks.
