Charlotte, N.C. – Bryson Deccanbaugh, captain of the LIV Golf League, hopes to get a chance to play with PGA Tour star Rory McIlroy in the final round at this week’s PGA Championship at Cool Hollow Club.
If that happens, it sounds as if DeChambeau would be better prepared to play another 18 holes in silence.
Last month’s Master, Deccanbo told reporters that McIlroy did not speak to him while playing together in the final group in the final round at Augusta National Golf Club.
“You didn’t talk to me all day,” Deccanbeau said at the Masters. “He didn’t talk to me. He was just like that – I think he was just focused. It’s not me.”
McIlroy’s strategy was to beat Justin Rose in the one-hole playoffs, earning the elusive green jacket and becoming the sixth player to complete a career grand slam.
DeChambeau carded a 3-over 75, leading him to fifth place with a 7-under.
At a press conference at Cool Hollow on Wednesday, McIlroy said Deccanbeau’s quiet treatment at the Masters was not personal.
“I don’t know what he was expecting,” McIlroy said. “We are about to acquire a master, I am not trying to become his best companion.
“Look, everyone approaches the game in different ways. Yeah, I was focusing on what I and I needed to do. That was really all. That was not against him.
McIlroy sports psychologist Bob Rotella told the BBC last month that the strategy at the Masters was to continue focusing on lasers during the tournament and ignore what everyone else was doing, including DeChambeau in the final round.
“It had nothing to do with Bryson,” Roterra told the BBC. “It’s been a game plan all week and we wanted to get lost in it. We didn’t want to pay attention to what someone else was scoring, shooting or swinging, or where they were hitting it.
Due to their distance from the tee, McIlroy and Dechambeau are one of the longest courses on the PGA Tour (7,626 yards) and one of their favourites to win the Wanamaker Trophy on Quail Hollow, the number to play even longer for wet conditions.
“I believe we have to keep a lot of distance here,” Deccanbeau said. “Rolly is a great driver for golf balls and his iron play is great, I think it’s a golf course that sets up pretty well for his shot shape.
“We know. Maybe I’ll do well, but I’m sure I’m going to give it all to me, and I know Rory.
