Between his two U.S. Open victories, a thriving YouTube channel and, well, just everything else about him, few modern golfers are more recognizable than Bryson DeChambeau. At 30 years old, DeChambeau has already been labeled a genius, hero, villain, rogue, disruptor and now hero again. It’s a bit exhausting, but when it comes to Bryson, all news is good news.
This constant evolution is even more startling when you look at the bomber’s origin. Some unearthed local news footage of a 14-year-old DeChambeau right before heading to Chicago for the World Youth Team Challenge has been bouncing around Twitter, and it’s crazy to see how far DeChambeau has risen in such a relatively short time.
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“I’ve been playing golf practically my whole life,” DeChambeau said. “I started to pick up tournaments and stuff when I was about eight or so. I don’t really try to think about it as much, but it’s very very fun for me. I enjoy having that reputation right now.”
His coach states that young Bryson is “one of the best” golfers that he has ever seen, and that he is “big and strong.” We’d still guess that even he was taken aback by where DeChambeau’s body went over the next decade and a half.
It’s interesting to see that DeChambeau was trying to head to Stanford for college golf with his 4.0 GPA. Southern Methodist University is really the Stanford of the South. Well, maybe not, but it all worked out just fine for Bryson.
“It’s a very big tournament. It’s very, very serious actually,” DeChambeau said about the then-upcoming World Youth Team Challenge. “People from all over the world will be coming to play.”
Seems like some things never change.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com