Bryson's Blast For The Ages
An incredible bunker save at the 18th clinches DeChambeau's second U.S. Open win after a thrilling stretch duel with McIlroy. Then the newly crowned two-time champion continued to entertain.
Bryson DeChambeau only got one thing wrong after working around a Magnolia tree root and blasting out of Pinehurst’s 18th-hole bunker to win the 2024 United States Open: the self-proclaimed scientist/artist/YouTuber/game-grower somehow forgot to re-create the iconic Payne Stewart pose after making the winning putt.
Otherwise?
No one has ever finished off or celebrated a major win like Bryson did at Pinehurst. Then again, the sport has never seen anyone like the 30-year-old absurdist whose antics have morphed over the years from weird to disappointing, to unsustainable to charmingly zany since he’s returned to a sane weight, lost his his father, stuffed his bank account with LIV money, and endured the same ego hits that come with a career in pro golf.
And while sport has always had natural entertainers, DeChambeau took things to an entirely different level in Sunday’s duel against another fan favorite in McIlroy.
Let’s start with a 55-yard bunker shot most mortals and a few immortals would be worried about skulling into Pinehurst’s modest one-story clubhouse.
“That bunker shot was the shot of my life,” DeChambeau said. “I'll forever be thankful that I've got longer wedges so I can hit it farther.”
After making a 3’11” inch putt to win by one stroke over McIlroy, DeChambeau put on a rapturous show for the grandstand fans who’d forgiven his sometimes sullen and weird jacked days.
Just as with last month’s PGA where he finished second to Xander Schauffele but won over more people than the champion, North Carolinians and fans far beyond have latched onto the zany force of nature. He is outshining most of the low-blood pressure bros who seem to think relentless displays of indifference are how you get ’er done.
With the huge grandstands surrounding Pinehurst’s 18th still rocking after the winning putt, DeChambeau went full Leonard Bernstein to his orchestra of admirers, conducting them to remain quiet so playing partner Matthieu Pavon could finish out his sensational week.
Bryson’s got class, too.
The spectacle continued with the new two-time champion promising to let every man, woman and child touch the silver prize if they so desired. After signing the historic scorecard and thanking Pavon as scorers checked his numbers one more time, DeChambeau reappeared for a moving trophy ceremony speech that included a big shout-out to the maintenance crew. Then he backed up his promise by jogging down the 18th fairway to the shock of security so the people could put fingerprints all over the 129-year-old prize. A brief stop at Sky Sports’ post-game show perked up the pro-Rory team trying to make sense of another emotional loss by Europe’s most beloved player.
After a champion’s press conference in the interview tent, darkness began to set in but DeChambeau went back out to the 18th for a third time to pose for photos in the now-infamous bunker. He paid a visit to Golf Channel’s Live From set where an awkward atmosphere was saved by his neverending energy and candid takes on the day. Humility and respect for McIlroy carried the day.
After wrapping up the chat, DeChambeau headed back to the clubhouse where he came upon former PGA Tour pro and noted short-game yips-sufferer Johnson Wagner who was attempting to re-create the bunker shot. Wagner had caught all ball on his first try as DeChambeau watched, but after a tip from the champion, landed the next attempt even closer than the DeChambeau shot Pinehurst members and guests will be trying about as long as there is golf in the Sandhills. The porch may not ever be safe again.
If you’re keeping track, add short game yip-solver to Bryson’s Sunday credits that also included the only-in-golf symbiosis of him attending the same university as 1999 champion Stewart and wearing a newsboy cap in homage to Payne. Bronze statue-makers will have no shortage of material to encapsulate DeChambeau’s second U.S. Open win.
How they’ll handle the hideous Crushers team hat with notes of Big Break’s logo by a rushed graphic designer work? TBD.
Speaking of people with chiseling tools, Bryson also watched the final trophy engraving work and live-streamed a thank you on Instagram where 25,000 joined for the brief promise to his fans. Then he signed off to drink out of the trophy—once the 18th hole bunker sand had been taken out and bagged for posterity. He predicted some chocolate milk imbibing just like 2022 at Winged Foot.
“I was a little lucky,” DeChambeau said of the round. “Rory didn't make a couple putts that he could have coming in. I had an amazing up-and-down on the last. I don't know what else to say. It's a dream come true.”
Add modesty to the list of things you never imagined from the once pompous one.
Time will put this U.S. Open’s place into better context, but it’s going to vie with some all-timers on the top 10 list. Classic status depends on some indeterminable but beautiful mix where a vast majority of fans and pundits agree that the course allowed generational talents to put on a grand show. There need to be ample good vibes fueled by fans, volunteers, and the host organization, plus plenty of cooperation from Mother Nature, a Sunday back-nine duel, and one killer shot destined for the all-time highlight loop.
Check, check, check, check and check.
In terms of final hole bunker shots, only Bob Tway’s hole-out at Inverness in the 1986 PGA might be more iconic. But golf geeks will counter by pointing out how the long bunker shot is still the one shot capable of making even the best golfers in the world look ridiculous.
DeChambeau found himself 55 yards from the 18th green after a pulled tee shot landed in the sand scrub, bounced off a volunteer, and ended up next to a massive Magnolia tree root with low-hanging green leaves overhead impeding his backswing.
He asked for temporary immovable obstruction relief from the NBC tower and the R&A’s David Rickman quickly denied the frivolous request. After multiple practice swings, DeChambeau smothered a shot forward into the greenside bunker.
“I was trying to run it left of that bunker, run it up the green, give myself a 2-putt,” DeChambeau said. “I had no backswing. At a certain point in time, I'm just like, okay, I have to hack it; hopefully it will go down the line, but it didn't. It cut and it went into the bunker, one of the worst places I could have been. But G-Bo just said, ‘Bryson, just get it up-and-down. That's all you've got to do. You've done this plenty of times before.’
“I said, ‘you're right; I need a 55-degree, let's do it.’”
DeChambeau required a par to win outright after McIlroy missed two key putts down the stretch of a final day 69: a relatively simple 2’6” at the 16th where his left arm looked slightly disconnected from his stroke—according to short game coach Brad Faxon who was working in the NBC booth. That was followed by a devilish 3’9” left-to-right slider at the 18th. Missing the latter left McIlroy at -5 and DeChambeau needing par to avoid the first aggregate playoff since 2008 on the 17th and 18th holes.
“After my tee shot, I was up there going, ‘Man, if he makes par, I don't know how I'm going to beat him.’ I just really didn't know. Then I heard the moans. Like a shot of adrenaline got in me. I said, ‘Okay, you can do this.’”
McIlroy, a year removed from a heartbreaking U.S. Open loss in Los Angeles and two years since another painful defeat at the Old Course, watched DeChambeau’s finish from U.S. Open scoring. When the winning putt went down, McIlroy turned, packed up quickly, and drove off in his courtesy car. Despite his recent marital woes that included news of salvaging things this week, McIlroy became the first player in U.S. Open history to finish solo second by a stroke in back-to-back years. He was roasted online and in the media for not hanging around to face questions and congratulate DeChambeau.
“Rory is one of the best to ever play,” DeChambeau said. “Being able to fight against a great like that is pretty special. For him to miss that putt, I'd never wish it on anybody. It just happened to play out that way. He'll win multiple more major championships. There's no doubt. I think that fire in him is going to continue to grow. I have nothing but respect for how he plays the game of golf because, to be honest, when he was climbing up the leaderboard, he was two ahead, I was like, ‘Uh-oh, uh-oh.’”
Just eighty minutes before the wild scene on Pinehurst’s 18th green, McIlroy held a two-stroke lead after making a fourth birdie in a four-hole stretch from the ninth to 13th. But the finishing stretch that had given him trouble all week ultimately proved fatal.
McIlroy played the 14th to 18th holes three-over-par for the week and five-over the last three rounds.
DeChambeau seemed mildly phased by hitting only five fairways in winning the U.S. Open Sunday. And he took some of the blame for a bizarre last-minute driver head switch less than 20 minutes before his tee time.
“I probably shouldn't have changed the heads,” he said. “I was trying to get a fresh head in there. It had a good curvature on the face, but it was a little bit lower loft. For whatever reason, those lower lofted heads have been missing right. Consequently I missed it right all day. A bit frustrating, but the [driver] that I was using for the past three days was just starting to get flat. It was a nine-and-a-half-inch curvature. I won't go over that.”
Oh it’s too late. But go on about how the club was not broken. Just flat-faced.
“I wanted to get a fresh head in. I was driving it well on the range. On the golf course, nerves got to me a little bit. I wasn't as comfortable with it. Probably needed to work it in more, more than just hitting five balls with it.”
Five balls, five fairways, and millions of new fans later, DeChambeau recorded an epic win and an even more joyful celebration for the ages.
Bryson DeChambeau By The Numbers
A few key numbers:
337.9 yard average on the measuring holes.
318.9 yard all drive average.