DeChambeau sets the tone for the IS India with some pure golf wizardry

Bryson DeChambeau sparked the inaugural International Series India presented by DLF to life within the first nine holes of the $2 million event on January 30. 

The muscular Texan created some golf magic, making the ball dance to his tune from an awkward position before cashing in on the opportunity created to thrill the massive crowd following him from the tee-off. 

On the par-5 eighth hole of the DLF Golf and Country Club, the reigning US Open champion drove his ball into a fairway bunker, leaving himself with no clear line to the green 205 yards away. 

Faced with the option of either playing out safely or going for broke, DeChambeau changed clubs three times and then whipped the ball out over the water and sent in curving into within 20 feet of the green. This was the sort of stuff over 2,000 spectators who had crowded into the course had come to see. 

At the top of the leaderboard, Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra and Kazuki Higa of Japan shared the clubhouse lead on 4 under par 68 while Anirban Lahiri was the best-placed Indian in the field on level par 72. 

Lahiri closed out his round with two birdies and two pars in the final four holes, swapping birdie for bogey on the front nine and then recovering from a double bogey-bogey jolt to hold a share of 13th place with two more birdies in his closing four holes. 

“The atmosphere was electric. I think there were a few of us Indians standing on the putting green waiting to tee off, saying, ‘Man, we have not felt this in the air for so long’. So, hats off to everyone for that,” Lahiri said later. “Other than that, I think I played pretty terribly. I hit my irons all over the place and did not have a half-decent look at birdie till the ninth. I scrambled well today. Didn't have my best. I just need to keep playing to get into a rhythm, where I start seeing shots and feeling shots and shaping shots. It was a bit lacking. 

“There were times when I hit it good. But I’m very happy with the way I dug my heels. Had a couple of places where I gave away some shots, but that can happen here on a course like DLF. Some extreme tough pin positions out there.” 

While the burly Chacarra fired a stunning back nine of 6 under 30 including an eagle on the eighth hole after starting from the 10th tee, Higa who also started from the back nine had completed 15 holes with an eagle-3 on the 18th hole and two birdies in six holes on the front nine. 

Gaganjeet Bhullar and Ajeetesh Sandhu were the next best of the 15 home players in the 108-strong field on 1 over 73 in a tie for 21st place while Jeev Milkha Singh was also 1-over but with five holes still to go. 

Said Bhullar, an 11-time Asian Tour winner, who picked up three shots in his final six holes and needed 29 putts on the day, “It was good to get those close to the finish. The course set-up was challenging and there was a lot of headwind at some of the holes, too. I also missed a few fairways.” 

Australian Aaron Wilkin was the only one in the 108-strong field to keep his card clean at 3 under par and in sole third place but he will return on Friday to complete the remaining six holes of the first round which was delayed by an hour on Thursday morning due to fog. 

Justin Quiban of the Philippines and Thailand’s Danthai Boonma were tied for fourth on 2 under 70s along with LIV Golf stars DeChambeau, playing partner Joaquin Neimann and American George Kneiser who could not complete their opening rounds. 

Chacarra initially struggled, making a triple bogey seven followed by a bogey but bounced back with three successive birdies and an eagle in a stunning homeward nine. “It feels good to be back,” said the 24-year-old, winner of the 2023 St Andrews Bay Championship, also part of The International Series. 

“I’ve been grinding on my body, on my game, and it’s been a great off-season. I mean I was four over through four, I feel like I didn’t even miss a shot. I mean, the first three holes, I had three good looks for birdie, and I was even par. 

“Then I hit a good iron that bounced, I think it hit a sprinkler head or something. It almost went by the fence, and I made a seven without any bad shots. But I still came back.” 

Quiban also had an eagle to finish under par, on the par-4 sixth where he holed a gap wedge from 122 yards. It landed two feet above the cup and spun in. “It’s a tough, tough, course. One of the hardest we play,” he said later. 

“You can’t chill out here, not at all. Yeah, you have to have full focus on every shot. Never played here before. I’m happy with anything in the red, of course.”