Bryson DeChambeau’s whirlwind weekend ends in nice payday: ‘It no doubt was worth it’

Bryson DeChambeau thought there was no way he made the cut at this weekend’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. When he finished his round Friday, his 2-over par left him at 90th on the leaderboard, well outside the 36-hole cut line.

So he left Charlotte, North Carolina, and flew home to Dallas. But midway through the flight, he was told his 2-over par wasn’t so far off. And once he landed, DeChambeau realized the place he really needed to be was where he had just vacated.

DeChambeau made the cut, finishing his first 36 holes in a tie for 64th, eight shots back of the frontrunners. While DeChambeau thought about withdrawing — he was 1,000 miles away, after all — DeChambeau opted to work out, eat dinner, sleep in his bed and fly back early Saturday morning to make an 8:10 a.m. tee time.

And his decision was well worth it. DeChambeau finished his weekend in a tie for ninth with a 4-under par and a payday of $228,825. That’ll cover the travel costs.

“It definitely will, for sure,” DeChambeau said after posting a 280 (via ESPN). “But it was more for me. The cost wasn’t really anything I was worried about. I really didn’t want to disappoint Wells Fargo and Quail Hollow and the guys who put up this tournament and give so much to charity.

“I mean, that’s one of the things I want to support. And fans out here, didn’t want to disappoint them. That’s something that’s super important to me about growing the game. I would definitely make that expense twice, twice as much for me to get back here to do that again.”

DeChambeau rebounded with two 68s on Saturday and Sunday, despite a whirlwind weekend to even make it back to the course to compete. The ninth-place finish also allowed DeChambeau to leap Justin Thomas for first place in the FedEx Cup standings — and if he secures that title by the season’s end, he’ll earn $15 million in prize money.

That was another added benefit for the return trip and solid performance in his final two rounds.

“It was worth it. It no doubt was worth it,” DeChambeau said. “That’s what I was hoping to do this weekend when I was on that plane at 2:45 a.m. [Saturday]. Yeah, I wanted to make it worth it. I didn’t want to come out here and finish 60-whatever, close to last. Even at that, it’s still FedEx Cup points, it’s still world ranking points. I was pleased to have come back and finished. Hopefully I can get inside the top 10 and be there and keep moving up the world rankings.

“The goal is obviously to be No. 1, and I want to be at the Olympics, so we’ll keep moving forward in the right direction. If I get my driving going next week, I like that golf course and hopefully I can play well out there.”