Bryson DeChambeau’s aim was not to end up in the short bunker of hole 18. When he hits the second shot from the bushes on the left of the fairway, close to a root and under some branches of a tree that prevented him from making the full swing, his intention was to take the ball to the entrance of the green. He knew the US Open was at stake. He knew that Rory McIlroy had made a bogey and all he was trying to do was avoid the sand. “When you’re fighting to win the US Open the last thing you want is to leave yourself a 50-meter shot,” he assured the media shortly after lifting the champion’s trophy at Pinehurst.
However, Murphy and his capricious laws come into play and, of course, he ends up in the bunker. Well, Murphy and the fact that the shot was really very complicated. He could barely hit a dragged shot with hardly any control. The news was not good, but there was his caddie, Greg Bodine, to lower his boss’s pulse and give him all the confidence in the world at that moment. The one he needed.
“The ball ended up in one of the worst places it could have been. But G-Bo (his caddie) told me: Bryson, it’s just an up and down. That’s all you have to do. You’ve done this many times before. I’ve seen some crazy shots of yours from 50 yards from a bunker. I looked at him and said: you’re right, pass me the 55 degrees and let’s do it,” he recounted.
The shot was perfect. Impeccable. He hit the shot that will forever define this US Open, a shot that he recreated an hour and a half later, at night, from the same place, with the NBC cameras as witnesses and professional Johnson Wagner as master of ceremonies. Genius and figure. According to Bryson, the secret key, if it can be called that, of the shot is, of course, in his equipment. “I will always be grateful to have longer wedges than normal, as it allows me to hit longer and be able to leave it closer to the hole,” he explained smiling. You already know that DeChambeau’s clubs are all the same size, his iron 4 is like his 55-degree wedge. It’s strange, not usual, but there are times when it comes in handy, especially if you’re about to win a Major. The champion of two US Opens had no doubts in qualifying the shot: “It’s the shot of my life”.
DeChambeau assured that he never stopped being aware of what Rory McIlroy was doing ahead. “I was looking at everything he was doing, looking at his shots and listening to the crowd’s reaction. I was looking at everything to know where I was. It was pushing me not to stop. In fact, when I saw that I was two behind I said to myself: “No, I’m not going to let that happen. It happened to me at the PGA and I don’t want it to happen again, I don’t want to finish second,” he pointed out. In this sense he admitted that “I was a bit lucky. Rory didn’t hole a couple of putts that he could have holed and I made an incredible recovery on the last. I don’t know what else to say. It’s a dream come true,” he stressed.
Precisely, regarding McIlroy, he had very elegant words. “Rory is one of the best in history. Being able to fight against a great one like him is very special. That he missed that putt I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It just happened that way. He will win many more major championships. There is no doubt. I think that fire inside him is going to keep growing. I have a lot of respect for how he plays golf because, to be honest, when he was moving up the leaderboard, he was two ahead, I was like, Uh-oh, uh-oh,” he pointed out.
DeChambeau stated that he felt the support of Payne Stewart (winner at Pinehurst in 1999), of whom he has always declared himself a fan, and of his father, who died a couple of years ago, at the lowest point of his career. “I wanted to do it for them. “In 2022 I suffered a hard setback for many reasons, in many scenarios, for many things. The lowest point was at the Masters, when I injured my hand. I had great friends and great people around me who were telling me: “Keep going, keep pushing”. So I came out of a pretty deep hole. The golf swing was not going well. The ball striking was terrible. The putt was not good. Paul Casey, who is in the Crushers, Anirban Lahiri and Charles Howell kept supporting me. That helped me a lot to get my mind right at such a low point in my life. Honestly, what I learned at that time is that you have to surround yourself with the right people,” he explained.
Another detail of the final round that caught the eye was seeing him on the practice range, shortly before going out to play, changing the driver’s head. “I shouldn’t have changed it. I was trying to put a new head on. It had a slightly lower loft and for some reason those heads have been failing. Consequently, I failed all day, I was bad off the tee. It was a bit frustrating, but the head I had been using for the last three days was starting to flatten out, instead of having a nine and a half inch curvature. That’s why I wanted to put a new head on. I should have worked it more,” he pointed out.
As for the negotiations between the PIF and the PGA Tour, DeChambeau hopes that his victory can help to bring positions closer. “If I have to be frank, I hope we can sort things out quickly. I hope this can build a bridge and bring the game back together. What’s past is past, let’s sort it out. Let’s bring golf, a sport with so much positivity, back to where it belongs”.
In this same sense, DeChambeau recalled that what he does with fans through his YouTube channel goes in the same direction. “My mission is to continue expanding the game, to grow it globally and nationally. YouTube has helped me a lot to achieve this. I think people have seen who I am on YouTube, which has been fantastic. All I want to do is entertain and give my best to the game of golf, execute and provide amazing entertainment to the fans. As far as I know, that’s what the fans want, and they deserve it”.
