JOHANNESBURG — It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s still been three better than anyone else.

Bryson DeChambeau, in the run-up to the first major of the year, has ascended to the enviable place where something less than his best is still good enough to win. 

That’s not to say less of his 63-65-64 start. It’s more to acknowledge how DeChambeau has shown frustration at the numerous putts he’s left short, or the consecutive days where he missed the easy par-3, 17th green, or the sloppy double bogey he made Friday afternoon.

“That back nine just kind of didn’t go my way on some of it,” DeChambeau said. “I made a great eagle on 10 and a great birdie on 18, but everything else was kind of a bit scrambly.”

In large part, DeChambeau has turned a long, wet property into something that feels much lesser. The 5,000 feet of altitude makes his longer-than-anyone long game seem even longer. The 393-yard par-4 1st amounts to a pitch-n-putt, from which he dunked his approach on Friday. Same for the 364-yard drivable 5th. He’s played those two holes six times and carded eight under between them. 

“It’s key to get off to a good start,” said his chief chaser, Jon Rahm. “Bryson has done a great job on that every single day.” Rahm has played those two holes in five under, really as good as anyone not named DeChambeau.

It would be the fifth LIV win of DeChambeau’s career and would make him the first player since Talor Gooch in 2023 to win consecutive LIV events. Now that the league receives world ranking points, it’ll also help DeChambeau climb back into the top 25, granted he finishes the job. And while he has no doubt energized the rabid crowds in Johannesburg, he may find many of them rooting against him Sunday morning. 

Four shots back is South African Dean Burmester, who has been the clear fan-favorite. So much that he was brought to tears on the 1st tee Saturday morning. Two shots back is South African Branden Grace, who has been chasing DeChambeau for 72 hours now, playing the last two rounds with him. Event organizers have been swapping out the white, wooden picket fences that flanked various holes for sturdier, steel fences that won’t buckle under the pressure of crowd weight. That feels like a sign of the Sunday to come. So did the opening exchange of Grace’s press conference.

When asked, in the name of South Africa’s famous wildlife, if he would have to be a bit of a cheetah, racing out to a catch DeChambeau, Grace pivoted cleverly. 

“Listen, I think I have to be a little bit of a rhino tomorrow,” he said. “I have to be tough tomorrow. This is going to be a battle. Listen, he’s playing phenomenal golf. I feel that I’m also playing phenomenal golf. You just need a couple of things to go your way and then a couple of shots can turn out — it can change quickly.”