On Sunday, Bryson DeChambeau won the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 with a three foot, eleven inch putt. DeChambeau made this putt look easy, hitting center cup. The win, though, did not come easy.
Pinehurst No. 2
The course lived up to the expectations this past weekend. Pinehurst No. 2 gave fans something different than what they have seen recently. Plenty of golfers had high expectations and hoped to bring the US Open trophy home. Many of these hopes got cut down quickly. Guys like Viktor Hovland (sixth in the world rankings) and Max Homa (15th) failed to make the cut. Plenty of other top players who played the weekend stuck around only to be frustrated with their performance and the course. Wyndham Clark who was the defending US Open champion finished his weekend at +12 and Scottie Scheffler (first in the world) finished at +8. Both of these guys were consistently and visibly frustrated as they battled the unforgiving course.
During the broadcast, viewers were shown how difficult the course was playing. Each hole gave graphics of just how small each green was playing. These graphics included arrows showing where balls would run off to if they missed landing zones. Pinehurst No. 2 forces players to play conservatively and smart. Even those playing cautiously found themselves in trouble often. Near fairway, misses resulted in many balls landing on or near wire grass in native areas. This caused frequent punches from the players and plenty of mishits. Even balls that landed inches from the pin ended up in these native areas off the green.
Pinehurst No. 2 lived up to the hype and proved to be a proper challenge. Many did not expect the winning score to be much lower than five under par. This held true on Sunday.
Final Round
As the final round began, many analysts and fans alike expected DeChambeau to win. The matter in which he did was very unexpected, though.
DeChambeau came into Sunday with a three shot lead over Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, and Matthieu Pavon. These three players avoided any major blowup holes and kept mistakes to a minimum. On the other hand, all it took was one brutal hole for guys like Tony Finau and Ludvig Aberg to see their US Open hopes nearly diminish. Going into the final round, it looked like it was Bryson DeChambeau’s US Open to lose barring something miraculous.
Back Nine
DeChambeau (paired with Pavon) and McIlroy (paired with Cantlay) gave fans one of the most dramatic back nines in major history.
By hole ten, Rory had gained two strokes on Bryson cutting the lead down to one. After just a couple more holes of play and a couple of huge putts from McIlroy, the scoreboard swapped names. Rory went up by two strokes after playing four under golf through thirteen holes. All of a sudden, the tournament seemed like it was Rory’s to lose. Many would argue that this is exactly what went on to happen.
After a birdie from Bryson and bogey from Rory had tied it all up, the final four holes saw three short missed putts. The first miss came from DeChambeau. This miss gave Rory the lead back with three holes to play. Next, it was McIlroy’s turn on hole 16. This miss was a two and a half footer that once again tied them at six under par. The last came on McIlroy’s final hole and was just under four feet. The putt broke hard left to right and slid right by the front right side of the cup to drop Rory back to five under. This meant that all Bryson DeChambeau had to do to win his second US Open was par hole number 18. This seems easy enough.
Hole 18
Hitting it in the fairway had been an issue for DeChambeau all day. If he could find the fairway, the next shot in and putt (or putts) would be relatively straightforward. Then Bryson proceeded to hit one of his worst drives of his weekend and yanked it way left. The ball traveled through the native area and for a second it seemed like he may have gotten a huge break. Once arriving at the ball, Bryson, and everyone else, realized that was not the case. His swing on the following shot would be impacted by a tree in the backswing, potentially grandstands on the flight, and a protruding tree root on the launch and follow through. After deliberating, practicing, and talking with his caddie, DeChambeau proceeded to punch the ball out of the spot successfully. The punch had too much speed on it and flew right into the sand trap about 60 yards from the green.
Professional golfers and amateur golfers alike will agree that sand shots are far from simple, let alone 60 yarders. Bryson needed to get up and down from this bunker to win, but most expected that he would be going for the tie and the playoff. This would be the recommended way to play this situation. Don’t try to hit the miracle shot, just give yourself an opportunity to stay alive. DeChambeau went on to hit one of the best shots in major history by landing his ball less than four feet away.
A demoralized Rory McIlroy watched on as Bryson DeChambeau sank this putt to win his second US Open.
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