Bryson DeChambeau Edges Rory McIlroy to Win the U.S. Open
The 30-year-old American won his second career major with a one-shot victory at Pinehurst No. 2
When Bryson DeChambeau won his first major at the 2020 U.S. Open, he was at the forefront of golf’s power revolution. In a sport where the top players were chasing distance, nobody pursued it more relentlessly than the player known as the mad scientist, who intentionally packed on weight to turbocharge his length off the tee.
But just as it looked like he was leaving the competition in the dust, DeChambeau was short circuited by injuries and bad form. By the time he joined LIV Golf midway through 2022, he had won just once more since that triumph and had become something of an afterthought in the game’s biggest tournaments.
This week, though, DeChambeau made it clear that he’s back in the most emphatic way possible. That’s because he’s a U.S. Open champion once again after an epic and sometimes ugly duel with Rory McIlroy that came down to the final hole.
DeChambeau won the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 at 6-under par, one stroke ahead of McIlroy who at one point had erased the three-stroke lead with which DeChambeau started the day and was alone at the top of the leaderboard. After McIlroy missed a short putt on the 18th, DeChambeau came through with the shot of the tournament: a brilliant wedge out of the bunker to avoid bogeying the final hole himself.
“That was probably the best shot of my life,” DeChambeau said afterward.
He followed that up with a short putt for par—and it was time for him to pump his fists and scream. The U.S. Open was DeChambeau’s.
Although they weren’t in the same group, McIlroy and DeChambeau were locked in a heavyweight fight all day. DeChambeau struggled out of the gate, while McIlroy heated up with a birdie on the opening hole. Then near the turn he really turned it on with four birdies on five holes between Nos. 9 and 13. At one point, McIlroy led DeChambeau by two strokes. But soon the gap narrowed and before long they were level once again.
Down the stretch, both of them wrestled with the pressure of the moment. DeChambeau missed a 4-footer for par on the 15th to give McIlroy a one-stroke lead. McIlroy coughed it up seven minutes later when he missed one from under 3 feet on the 16th.
It all came down to the final hole—where they both hit wayward drives. First, McIlroy went into Pinehurst’s trademark wiregrass and it looked like he had scrambled to save par. That’s when he missed another short putt, this time from under 4 feet.
Next up was DeChambeau, who badly hooked his tee shot and had to take his second shot hunched over beneath a tree where the ball was nestled next to a root. From there he went into the bunker, where he came through with an all-time up-and-down to avoid a playoff.
The victory was a testament to how DeChambeau has evolved as a golfer and is no longer merely someone who hits monstrous drives. He showed touch around the greens and scrambled out of some dicey situations, all while playing to the crowds that these days adore him.
“When that pressure is on and I execute like I know how I can, there’s no better feeling in the world,” DeChambeau said heading into the final round.
While DeChambeau entered the final round with a three-stroke lead over McIlroy and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, it was hardly a guarantee it would hold. That’s because Pinehurst has the potential to steal that many strokes from a player on a single hole, owing to the false edges on the greens and the clusters of wiregrass that can turn shots into nightmares. And a shaky start that included a bogey on the fourth hole, made it clear that he wouldn’t be running away with anything quickly.
But when he ran into trouble off the tee, his other clubs kept saving him. On the eighth hole, his tee shot went severely to the right but he managed to save par anyway. He repeated the feat on 18.
This U.S. Open will be remembered just as much as a victory for DeChambeau as it will be a loss for McIlroy. The Northern Irishman has four major wins but none since 2014, and in this one he had a two-shot lead with five holes to play before bogeying three of the last four holes, including two on putts that were essentially tap-ins.
That meant a one-over 71 was good enough for DeChambeau to take his second career major—and be the one celebrating on the final green.