![]() ![]() Due to the sport’s not-yet-existent TV partnerships, the tournament’s broadcast was a grainy, YouTube livestream. Fans surged into the PLDA website, briefly crashing it on Tuesday morning and, eventually, racking up more than a half-million hits on Wednesday alone. He’s going nuts on the tee box /AL6aevkDQP- James Colgan September 28, 2021Īnd yet, the response on the ground paled in comparison to the one on the Internet. “The energy level at that event was just incredible.”īryson WINS heat 3. “I’ve been to a lot of long drive tournaments, that was probably the most energetic one that I could possibly remember,” Peterson said. Fans hooted as music blasted from speakers, cheering as DeChambeau blasted drive after drive. When it came time for DeChambeau to compete “on the grid,” on-lookers packed the bleachers, leaving dozens to stand in the aisles and alleyways. Fans swarmed the event, pressing up against the gates to get a closer look at the PGA Tour’s longest-hitter on the range. Of course, the star of the show was DeChambeau, who flew to Mesquite fresh off helping the Americans clinch a convincing win at the Ryder Cup, and was the first pro to compete in a long drive event in several decades. For $10, anyone who wished to enter could watch the game’s longest hitters compete for a full day, with action running from sun-up to sundown. It was Peterson’s call to charge a gate-entry fee, a landmark decision for a league that has rarely ever had to worry about a glut of fans. The tour is technically player-run, but on tournament days, people answer to Peterson, who also handles the finances. News ‘He’s been so much happier’: How Bryson DeChambeau found joy, acceptance in long drive By:Īfter Golf Channel left the sport in the early stages of the pandemic, Peterson was among the first to formulate the idea of creating what he called a “grassroots long drive tour.” After meeting with some of the game’s other stakeholders, he drafted the charter for the Professional Long Drivers Association. Peterson builds drivers for aspiring long drive pros, structures their training sessions and otherwise lends an ear to those hoping to add distance to their game (like DeChambeau, with whom Peterson frequently conversed during tournament week). He speaks with a Southern drawl, and when he’s not competing in the senior division at long drive events, can be found running the “One Stop Power Shop,” a full-service long drive factory in Newton Grove, N.C. Peterson is a long drive lifer, and he looks the part - tall with thick shoulders, high-and-tight, salt-and-pepper hair and large, wraparound sunglasses. “We had to do it just to cover the expenses, because we don’t have a major sponsor to help it.” “We didn’t really want to do that but we had to,” Bobby Peterson, the PLDA’s de facto commissioner, said in a telephone interview this week. The Bryson Effect could initially be observed at the gated entry to the Mesquite Sports Complex, where, for the first time ever, the Professional Long Drivers Association charged people a fee to watch the action in person. After all, the easiest way to know something had changed on the ground in Mesquite, Nev., came well before anyone caught a glimpse of DeChambeau pounding drives into the ether. Perhaps it was obvious from the beginning that Bryson DeChambeau’s appearance at the World Long Drive Championships was fundamentally altering the sport. But in the battle to smash a golf ball into orbit, McIlroy and DeChambeau face genuine competition this week.Bryson's big-swinging exploits are already bearing fruit for long drive. Unfortunately, another thing this is high is the rough that lines the fairway at the Los Angeles Country club, making accurate drives more important than ever before. Ranked 147th on the DP World Tour and still seeking his maiden triumph on the circuit, Nienaber is unlikely to be in the mix for the US Open title, but the chances of him hitting the longest drive of the tournament will be extremely high. According to IOL, the South African is said to have a graceful effortless-looking swing, which is in stark contrast to DeChambeau's battering ram approach. There is also an argument to be had that Sunshine Tour winner Nienaber's swing is more aesthetically pleasing than DeChambeau's. That's even further than that PGA Tour's leading driver Rory McIlroy, who has averaged 328 yards from the tee box this season. The 23-year-old is averaging 338 yards (309m) off the tee this season. ![]() Standing at 1.87m tall, Nienaber is currently the leading distance driver on the DP World Tour. ![]()
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