Bryson DeChambeau advanced to the next round of the Professional Long Drivers of America World Championships after finishing second in his group Wednesday in Mesquite, Nevada.
DeChambeau moved on for the second straight day, with Wednesday’s cut seeing the field go from 64 to 32.
The format sees each golfer hit six golf balls in one set against three other competitors. Golfers receive a score of 200, 100, 50 or 25 based on where they rank in distance compared to the others.
DeChambeau finished in first with the longest drives in three of his five sets, and finished in second in the other two. He was only 75 points behind the winner of the group, Martin Borgmeier, but he did best Borgmeier in yardage in their final set.
The distances on DeChambeau’s drives were shorter than they were Tuesday, when he smashed a 412-yarder and four other drives in the 400 range. Golfers benefited from a tailwind Tuesday but faced a headwind Wednesday.
DeChambeau finished the second round with a long drive of 355 yards; the longest for all competitors in the group was 367 hit by Scottie Pearman.
Despite the success he’s having in the competition, DeChambeau told ESPN’s Michael Collins that he is most proud of bringing more eyeballs and more fans to the sport. The livestream of the event Tuesday had more viewers than a typical event and even crashed the scoreboard and server.
“It’s not just a niche thing, there are things I’ve learned and have taken to the (golf) course that anyone can also use,” DeChambeau told Collins. “There are hockey and baseball players here competing, some of their stories are just amazing. I’m so happy to be able to help bring them to light.”
The field on Thursday will consist of two groups of 16, where the top eight from each will advance to Friday’s final round. DeChambeau has yet to go head-to-head with world No. 1 long driver Kyle Berkshire, who also advanced.
The groups for Thursday haven’t been announced yet.
“(Thursday) is going to be tough,” DeChambeau said. “But I’m having so much fun.”