The story of Bryson's 417-yard drive

In Paris Bryson DeChambeau lost all three of his matches, at the Presidents Cup he sat out the entire Saturday. In Wisconsin DeChambeau, in a split second and four holes after hitting a spectator with his opening tee shot, lit up this year's Ryder Cup by doing what he does best.

He hinted earlier in the week that the tee shot at the 5th might be on but nobody, even the cameraman, had any real idea what was going on.

“If it’s the right wins I could pretty much go at the flag which is cool. In the practice session I had like 120 yards into that green. Guys are going to be hitting it over the left maybe and having 3-wood or hybrid in.”

In his warm-up his ball speed was up near 200mph, next week he will be taking the really big boys on at a World Long Drive event but this was still ridiculous.

“I knew if it was a little downwind, I could take a unique line, and I luckily was able to have that wind today,” he said. “It was 20-plus, and I said to myself, All right, I have to aim at the green, so I did. I just aimed at the green and bombs away. I caught it high off the face with no spin, and said, ‘See you later.’”

A 300-yard drive off the normal line would leave a shot of around 270 yards in, DeChambeau left himself just 72 yards in. His drive, which took out all the trouble and tens of bunkers, measured a whopping 417 yards.

Better still he pitched it stone dead for the most straightforward eagle of all time.

His playing partner Scottie Scheffler had the best view in the house: “I think he pushed it a little bit, but he smashed it. So thankfully he pushed it just a touch. If he pulls that ball at all, it’s weird, there are two towers behind the green, I can’t even describe to you — they are like 250 or 200 yards right of where I’m trying to hit my drive, and it’s crazy for him to be able to commit to that shot.

“That was probably the most excited he’s ever been on a golf course. That wind, we had it on one of our practice days, and we figured out what he needed to do, so to have an opportunity to do that in competition was amazing. I was jacked up for him as well.”