During his early teenage years, DeChambeau became very good at the game, very quickly – and he wasn’t shy about letting his buddies know just how well he was playing. His favorite bet only resulted in a post-round candy acquisition, but it’s all about the story, one which proved to him that he could someday play high-level professional gol
“I was about 14 or 15 years old. I was a good player, obviously, and I had a friend named Blake Berry – he’s going to hate me for telling this story – I told him I was playing really well at the time.
“We were playing from the white tees, we usually played nine holes on Saturday afternoon. I pretty much said to him, ‘Dude, I’m feeling really good.’
“He was probably a 2-handicap. And he goes, ‘Alright, what do you want?’ I said, ‘I’m telling you, four shots.’ And he says, ‘Dude, you’ve got no chance.’
“I said, ‘Really? OK, well how about this: I’ll give you a shot every hole. How about that?’ Against a 2-handicap. And he goes, ‘What?! You’re crazy.’ I said, ‘Just watch.’
“So I birdie the first three holes. He pars each of them and we’re even. I eagle No. 4 and par 5, then birdie 6, birdie 7, birdie 8 and birdie 9 to shoot a 27. I had a 4-iron into the last hole and hit it to a foot. I played the best I possibly could.
He shoots 37, bogeys the last hole and I beat him by one. He had to give me a Reese’s afterward. That was the bet.
“That’s when I knew I could do it. That’s when I knew I could play out here, that I had the you-know-what that it takes to play out here.”
Reproduced from article in Action Bet
