I was all set to define Bryson’s assault on the 6th at Bay Hill as preposterous, when another writer utilized that precise term in a tweet. Thanks, brother. Soooooo, I pivoted to ludicrous as my operative word to describe DeChambeau’s performance at Bay Hill. Why ludicrous? It must have been the causing laughter because of absurdity element. Guess who else impacted the golf world in this way, back in 1997? Yup, the golfer formerly known as Eldrick. If the PGA Tour wasn’t already a video game, it officially transitioned this week into one. Let’s be honest: it was fun as hejj to watch, amiright?

Time to run down the two events that took place this week, and salute the winners and the challengers.

PGA Tour: Arnold Palmer Invitational to DeChambeau for win number eight

The score line will confirm that Bryson DeChambeau made a ticklish, five-feet putt for par at the 72nd hole to hold Lee Westwood off by one stroke. The par save came moments after Westwood made one of his own, from twice that length, to keep the pressure on the 2020 U.S. Open champion. What will perhaps be lost to history is the next step that DeChambeau took toward making all holes a par one, save for those that measure beyond one thousand yards. That feat of strength and engineering must wait, however, until we dispense with required matters.

The reborn Westwood came into the fourth round at Bay Hill, with a one-shot advantage over the young-ish Californian. It has been eleven years since the Englishman raised a PGA Tour trophy, and that one came at the 2010 St. Jude Classic, now a WGC event. On the European tour, however, Westwood has been an autumnal lion of late, with two wins in the last four years. Having discovered some fountain of youth, Westy will set his sites on a run at an elusive major in 2021, and he has the game to finally reel one in.

On this day, his game wavered a bit. Westwood counted three bogies and two birdies, which left him that slim strike shy of the victor. Two shots back of Westwood was Corey Conners, the Canadian powerhouse who earned the 36-hole medal this week, and admirably remained in contention. In fact, it’s rare that one writes about someone who scribbled bogey on three of his closing four holes, but Conners made a stellar eagle three on the 16th, to find himself at 10-under par. Nerves or something Floridian got to him over the closing stretch, but the finish was noteworthy.

And now, at last, we get to Bryson DeChambeau and his work on the par-five sixth hole. It’s one of those 1970s-era wraparounds that, unlike sunken bars of the same era, have proven to not stand the test of time. After toying with a 365-yard carry straight at the putting surface, past all of Davey Jones’ locker, DeChambeau hit rope hooks on Saturday and Sunday, covering 370 yards in a mighty blow each afternoon. He was within wedge distance of the green with each, and made birdie each day.

This was not a preposterous win a la Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open. Instead, it was an absurd assault on how far a golf ball can be carried, by a human being who reaches for every ounce of stored energy, every yard of potential distance. DeChambeau is endearing and open, and this generation of golfers and writers should hitch themselves to this wagon train immediately.

LPGA: Drive On Championship stamped with authority by Ernst

It’s hard to believe that Austin Ernst has been on the LPGA circuit for seven years. Her first win came in 2014 and was followed by a six-year dry spell. In 2020, the South Carolina native broke through for that elusive second win in Arkansas. This week, she was paired with wunderkind Jennifer Kupcho, the only winner to date of the Augusta Women’s Invitational. After graduating from Wake Forest, Kupcho notched a pair of top-ten finishes in major events but has yet to unlock the gate to the top of the podium in an LPGA event. This week was her best opportunity to date.

Ernst and Kupcho matched 67s in each of the first two rounds, and played together on day three. Just one stroke separated them after 54 holes, and then the oddest of Sundays arrived. Ernst made four consecutive birdies, on holes four through seven, to reach a six-shot margin over the Colorado native Kupcho. The margin was halved when the chaser notched birdies at 10 and 12, while Ernst made bogey at the par-five 12th. The 13th proved to be pivotal: Ernst made bogey but avoided dropping a shot when Kupcho also made five at the two-shotter.

At that juncture, the wind left Kupcho’s sails and she made double at 15 and bogey at 17, to relieve the pressure from Ernst’s shoulders. The final margin of victory coincided with Ernst’s front-nine burst.

The tour moves on to California at the end of the month, giving the itinerant athletes a bit of a break before waging battle on the tees and greens of Carlsbad. Our money is on Kupcho winning one of the next two events, with Ernst not far off.