DeChambeau Burned by Coefficient of Restitution at Masters

By Mike Johnston, Sportsnet

You know when you share your strong opinions on the coefficient of restitution relating to golf flagsticks only to find yourself on the 18th at Augusta National watching your terrific approach shot bounce directly off the flagstick and roll out rather than dropping into the hole?

Don’t you just hate when that happens?

Well, Bryson DeChambeau knows exactly how you feel.

The 25-year-old shot a 6-under 66 on Day 1 of the 2019 Masters for a share of the lead heading into Friday, but it was his second shot on 18 that had many golf fans snickering.

DeChambeau hit a beautiful draw from 196 yards away and nearly holed out on the par-four before settling for his ninth birdie of the day.

The reason this particular shot received extra attention is the fact DeChambeau has been on record saying he’s a fan of the USGA’s 2019 rule change that allows golfers to keep a flagstick in a hole regardless of where they’re shooting from.

The previous rule stated, “if a player makes a stroke on the putting green and the ball then hits the unattended flagstick that was left in the hole, the player gets the general penalty.”

When asked by golf.com in November whether or not he’d choose to leave flagsticks in once the new rules were adopted, DeChambeau already had a well-thought-out answer.

“It depends on the COR, the coefficient of restitution, of the flagstick,” DeChambeau said.

“In U.S. Opens (at which metal flagsticks are used), I’ll take it out, and every other Tour event, when it’s fiberglass, I’ll leave it in and bounce that ball against the flagstick if I need to.”

COR can be defined as “a number which indicates how much kinetic energy remains after a collision of two objects.”

Typically in golf, COR is brought up when discussing contact between the clubface and ball but DeChambeau applied it to when a ball hits a flagstick.

In theory, DeChambeau’s shot on 18 should’ve simply plunked down for the eagle, but since the ball was travelling much faster than any putt would have been travelling it didn’t work out that way.

While the new rule technically had no impact on the shot because it wasn’t a putt, the irony that the improbable shot came from DeChambeau was not lost on golf fans and pundits.

“When he sees this, he’s not going to believe it,” Jim Nantz said on the broadcast before his commentary partner Nick Faldo chimed in with, “He’s going to just check his calculations of course.”

DeChambeau, currently No. 6 on the Official World Golf Ranking, even poked fun at himself after his round was over.

Often referred to as golf’s mad scientist, DeChambeau has always aimed to incorporate math and science into his game – even his set of irons has a uniform length of 37.5 inches with identical clubface weight.

“All I try to do is use every aspect of the game of golf to my advantage,” DeChambeau told pgatour.com’s Ben Everill last year.

“I try to use the rules to my advantage in the most positive way possible. Not trying to skirt around anything, just use them.”

DeChambeau’s couldn’t quite match his round one performance Friday.

After going even on the front nine he double-bogeyed the 10th, finished 3-over on the day and fell more than 10 spots down the leaderboard.