Bryson DeChambeau: "I've been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don't think that'll happen this weekend"; watch the final two rounds of The Players Championship live on Sky Sports The Players from 1.30pm on Saturday and Sunday
Friday 12 March 2021 18:57, UK
Bryson DeChambeau moved to six under at the halfway stage of The Players Championship with a second successive 69 but admitted afterwards that he is lucky to be so high up the leaderboard.
The 27-year-old American made a poor start to his second round with a double-bogey six at the 10th following a wayward tee shot and then an approach into the bushes.
However, despite some poor tee shots after adopting largely conservative tactics with irons, he recovered well with birdies at the 11th, 16th, 17th, sixth and ninth to sit just one behind overnight leader Sergio Garcia as he teed off.
DeChambeau felt he had rode his luck, though, thanks to his excellent short game and said he cannot afford to do the same over the weekend if he is to claim his ninth PGA Tour victory on Sunday.
"You don't expect to do that the first hole out. Especially as I was hitting it pretty good this morning, and then you go out there, you hit one and you squeeze one right and it goes pretty far right. You don't hit your second shot where you need it to be and mess up," said DeChambeau, who claimed ahead of the tournament that he had yet to win when firing on all cylinders.
"So you just aren't feeling comfortable. I wasn't feeling as comfortable as I should have been feeling, and unfortunately, that's the way my day started.
"I was able to make a nice up-and-down on the next hole to settle it down and up-and-down on 12 which was great. A couple of crucial up-and-downs and I just felt like I just wasn't hitting it my best today.
"I'm happy with the fact that I've still been able to keep myself in it and score well. I've been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don't think that'll happen this weekend.
"I've got to make sure that my game is good off the tee, so I don't have those issues occurring and I don't have to rely on luck for the most part. I have to get it in the fairway.
"I was in places where I could get it up-and-down, rely on my short game around the greens. I don't want to continue to do so.
"It's definitely an execution thing. I'm not passing through impact consistent, as consistent as I'd like. You know, one of those things that it's going to be a battle this weekend, if I don't get it figured out, and if I do, hopefully it all adds up in a good way."
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