This time, Winged Foot’s 72nd hole was not the scene of an accident. In Bryson DeChambeau’s world, there is no room for one.
The most interesting player in golf put the U.S. Open to sleep on Sunday, which was exactly his intention.
He pulled away from Matthew Wolff, put together the only under-par round of the day, became the only man to finish under-par for the event, and won his first major championship by six strokes.
The absent fans missed nothing but overpriced beer.
DeChambeau’s evangelical obsession with science, with actually taking golf apart and putting it back together, has always been his trademark. But his real identity could be found on Winged Foot’s chilly practice range Saturday night, when he was pounding driver after driver to solve a problem.
“I wasn’t comfortable with it Saturday, but I figured out something, and then on the 6th hole I realized my left arm wasn’t holding and being stable enough on impact,” DeChambeau said. “I didn’t want to over-rotate. Once I straightened it out, I was fine.”
DeChambeau began the day two shots behind Wolff, the 21-year-old from Westlake High who had scorched Winged Foot with a Saturday 65. He caught Wolff in four holes.
When DeChambeau rolled in a 39-foot eagle putt on the ninth, and when Wolff followed with his own nervy 10-foot eagle, the fun was about to begin. And it did, but DeChambeau took it all.
He parred the mean-spirited 10th, then holed a 13-footer on the 11th to lead by three. As Wolff began to struggle, DeChambeau merely had to walk to the clubhouse without tripping on an algorithm.
He walked blithely past the 18th, where the 2006 U.S. Open had disintegrated in Phil Mickelson’s hands. When he got to the clubhouse he entered a distinguished throne room.
He finished at six-under-par, and his 67 was three strokes better than anyone else on Sunday. Only DeChambeau, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won an NCAA title, a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open.
One day Wolff will look around his stuffed trophy case and laugh about the one that got away. On Sunday he couldn’t spin second-shot magic out of the weeds, and shot the 75 that you might expect from a guy who could be starting his senior year at Oklahoma State, and still is the reigning NCAA champ.
But Wolff is now fourth and second in his first two professional majors. He has plenty of swings left, and now DeChambeau has shown him how major champions walk.
“This definitely won’t be the last time I’ll be in this spot,” Wolff said. “I hit some 3-woods that were uncharacteristic, and I hung my head a couple of times, which might have been the difference in two or three shots. I got some bad breaks, but that’s part of the Open. It was the longest week of golf I’ve ever had, I know that.”
DeChambeau’s career was proceeding nicely in everyone’s eyes but his. He wanted to find new frontiers in distance, so he became Bison (cq) DeChambeau. The extra 40 pounds were especially jarring after golf’s restart in July. He beat Wolff to win the tour event in Detroit (after Wolff had beaten him in Minneapolis last year), and his occasional 400-yard drives were no longer news.
No one is supposed to hit only 23 fairways in four rounds and still decapitate Winged Foot.
“He’s a man of his word,” Xander Schauffele said. “He did what he said he’d do. Maybe he’s just exposing our game.”
But the cantilevered greens are Winged Foot’s toughest weapon. DeChambeau conquered them too. He was fifth in greens in regulation and 11th in total putts (115).
“My putting was immaculate and that’s why we work so hard on speed control,” DeChambeau said. “But it’s more validation through science. If I have a 40-footer and the device says 10.2 mph and I execute it, I know I’ve made my perception reality.”
The Masters beckons in November.
“I’m 230 to 235 pounds now, depending on whether I’ve just had a steak,” DeChambeau said. “I think I can get to 245 by Augusta. And I’m working with a 48-inch driver next week and hopefully I’ll be able to drive it 365, 375 yards.”
“That first week we came back, I played with him and I said, OK, wait until he gets to a proper golf course,” Rory McIlroy said, smiling. “He’ll have to rein it in. Well, this is as proper as they come. And look what’s happened.”
The reins are off, and Bryson DeChambeau’s only race is with himself.
Bryson DeChambeau refuses to leave the Open to question posted first on https://anaheimsignsorangecounty.blogspot.com
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