Bryson DeChambeau made an early statement at Augusta National, shooting a 7-under 65 in the opening round of the 2024 Masters on Thursday. The outspoken LIV Golf star took a three-shot lead into Butler Cabin, though World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (6-under 66) closed the gap in the afternoon.

DeChambeau started and finished strong. The 2020 U.S. Open winner birdied the first three holes, then showed off his underrated short game with an impressive up-and-down from the bunker to save par on the par-3 fourth.

 

DeChambeau birdied five of his last seven holes, including the iconic back-t0-back of the par-3 12th and par-5 13th in Amen Corner. His lone slip-up was a bogey on the par-4 ninth.

 

DeChambeau made headlines in 2020 when he called Augusta National Golf Club a “par 67” for a distance driver like himself. Since those comments, DeChambeau has finished T34, T46, and missed the cut at the Masters. The 30-year-old's best career finish at Augusta is a T29, in 2019.

In six career Masters starts, DeChambeau has an average round score of one-over par (73). The 65 marks his best round at the year's first major.

When he made those questionable remarks, DeChambeau was amid an extended, experimental phase in which he aggressively bulked up to juice his distance. Augusta, by design, tends to reward variety over power.

On Thursday, a slimmer DeChambeau deployed a deep bag and relied on “a lot of patience … especially out here on this golf course where you feel like it's gettable.”

“It's right in front of you,” he said. “But it's tricky out here. It's super tricky. Making sure that you play aggressively, but in a safe manner where it's not going to get you into too much trouble. As my game has progressed, I try to be a little bit smarter on the golf course, and not try to go for broke.”

DeChambeau seemingly entered the 2024 Masters in a positive place. He's de-emphasized muscle mass, though still leads LIV in driving distance (and eagles).

“You’ve got to place it around here,” a cheery DeChambeau said in a post-round interview. “People think you can just bomb it, but you’ve got to put it in the right spots.”

DeChambeau's Crushers GC team leads the LIV Golf standings after five 2024 events. Bryson is seventh in the individual points race.

“I'm in a place now where I've figured some stuff out with my golf game, golf swing,” he said Thursday after his sterling round. “I'm just in a comfortable place where I'm doing the same thing every week.”

DeChambeau is one of 13 LIV Golf League members in the 89-person Masters field.

“Winning at Winged Foot helped me understand how to win big tournaments,” DeChambeau said.

DeChambeau, Gary Woodland, and Thorbjorn Olesen were among the earliest groups to tee off on Thursday morning (following a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay). The trio is scheduled to begin their second round at 11:54 a.m. ET on Friday.

Patience was key for the 2022 Masters champ, too.

“Anytime you can get around this golf course bogey-free, you're gonna have a pretty good day out there,” Scheffler said after his first-ever clean round at Augusta. “I just tried to stay as patient as possible, and was fortunate enough to keep a clean card.”

“Scottie does such a good job of … it doesn't look like it's 6-under par, and then at the end of the day it's 6-under par,” said Rory McIlroy, who played with Scheffler. “He's just so efficient with everything. If you look at Scottie compared to the rest of the field, the amount of bogey-free rounds he plays and he shoots is phenomenal, and that's the secret to winning major championships and winning big-time golf tournaments is more limiting the mistakes rather than making a ton of birdies.”

“I saw that Bryson shot 7-under, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that's a really good round of golf,' and I kind of put my head down and focused on what I was doing.”

Scheffler, McIlroy (-1) and Xander Schauffele (E) will begin their second round at 1:48 p.m. ET on Friday.