Bryson DeChambeau wins U.S. Open in surreal style; here are 5 takeaways from Pinehurst No. 2

Bryson DeChambeau, who won his second U.S. Open at Pinehurst four years after his victory at Winged Foot in New York, didn’t play very well on Sunday but managed to pull off the win thanks in part to Rory McIlroy, who made three bogeys in the final four holes to lose by one stroke.

With his win, DeChambeau joins Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as a rare breed of players with multiple U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open titles — not bad company to be in. McIlroy, meanwhile, remains winless at a major championship, and Sunday’s loss may have been the most heartbreaking moment of his illustrious career.

Here are five lessons learned from the North Carolina sand dunes.

1. The Greatest U.S. Open of All Time

The 124th US Open will go down in history as one of the greatest tournaments of all time. Two of the best players in the world, Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, battled it out on a challenging back nine golf course that kept everyone on the edge of their seats.

You couldn’t ask for anything better at a major championship. Every shot was a must-see, from DeChambeau’s third shot on the 10th hole to his brave sand save on the 18th. Rory McIlroy also produced some magical moments, but his frozen putter on the 16th and 18th holes shocked the world and left everyone in disbelief.

But this will be a tournament that will live long in people’s memories.

At the post-round press conference, Kevin Van Valkenburgh No layup “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that I feel like this is one of the greatest U.S. Opens of all time,” he told DeChambeau.

“Wow,” DeChambeau interjected before Van Valkenburgh could finish his question, sounding in disbelief after a roller-coaster day that could have gone either way.

DeChambeau said afterwards that he was “grateful” to have been a part of the event, but in all seriousness, the golf world should feel blessed to have been able to witness such a great championship amid so much division within the sport.

2. Is Bryson DeChambeau No. 2 in the world?

Bryson DeChambeau has had a better record at three major championships than any other player, including Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler won the Masters, the Players and three other signature events this season, but in tournaments where he played alongside DeChambeau, the LIV Golf star beat Scheffler twice.

DeChambeau finished tied for sixth at Augusta National and second behind Xander Schauffele at Valhalla. And now he’s the U.S. Open champion, winning on a course where Scheffler struggled for four straight days.

Scheffler remains the No. 1 ranked player in the world, but DeChambeau should slip into No. 2 at this point.

Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour via Getty Images

He has come into his own on the biggest stage this season, showing skills that go beyond his ability to hit 350-yard driver shots. His short game has been great all week, making putts when he needed to, except for the par-3 15th hole on Sunday. DeChambeau made shots when he needed to, but not beyond that on the 18th hole, where he went up-and-down from a bunker 55 yards short of the green.

Best of all, golf fans have embraced DeChambeau, who once viewed him as a pariah but is now arguably the game’s biggest star.

3. Rory McIlroy’s collapse was worse than Mickelson’s in 2006 and Dustin Johnson’s in 2015.

I’m not so sure Rory McIlroy can recover from what happened late on Sunday.

It all started with his tee shot on the par-3 15th hole, the same hole he had bogeyed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday: McIlroy was 8 under and in firm control of the tournament at that point, and he had just extended his lead with birdies on the 9th, 10th, 12th and 13th holes to put him in sole possession of first place.

But on this hole, McIlroy knew he couldn’t go long, so he took out his 7-iron from 205 yards out and tried to hit a lower-than-normal draw shot into the center of the green. But because McIlroy was hitting a draw shot, the ball was flying from right to left and didn’t land softly. So his shot bounced hard off the hard ground and rolled into the back of the “turtleback” green, where it hit the wiregrass and fell for a bogey.

Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

So why on earth would he try to hit a rocket with a hard, low 7-iron instead of a high fade with a 6-iron? He could have saved par at that hole even if he’d hit it short. But as soon as he went over, the collapse began.

Then came the difficult par 4 16th hole.

McIlroy hit a strong drive, a smart second shot and looked all but guaranteed par, but missed it from 2 feet, 9 inches. According to Justin Ray, the miss was McIlroy’s first miss of the season from within 3 feet and shocked the world.

Suddenly, McIlroy was at six under with DeChambeau right behind him, two more pars to force a possible playoff and a birdie on the 17th or 18th to win and end his championship streak.

On the 17th hole, McIlroy hit his tee shot left and into a bunker, but still managed to save par. Then on the 18th hole, McIlroy hit another powerful drive that missed the left fairway and was sucked into the wiregrass. Why McIlroy didn’t opt ​​for a 3-wood here is another key question in his decision-making.

Either way, he rushed his second shot from the local area to just in front of the green, about 20 yards in front of the pin, then hit a solid chip shot, but it was too fast and landed 3 feet, 6 inches above the hole, setting the stage for a slippery downhill slider that nobody wants at the U.S. Open.

McIlroy missed it too, finishing with a 1-under 69 to finish the U.S. Open at 5-under par. Of course, DeChambeau then made a miraculous par to win the title and disgusted McIlroy.

Photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

But why does this collapse rank higher than Phil Mickelson’s disaster on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot in 2006 or Dustin Johnson’s three-putt gaffe at Chambers Bay in 2015?

Mickelson and Johnson were held accountable after their respective failures.

McIlroy didn’t.

“I’m in shock. I can’t believe I did this. I’m such an idiot,” Mickelson famously said after a fumble on the 18th hole, handing the title to Geoff Ogilvie.

Meanwhile, Johnson was asked 11 questions by the media in 2015, and every one of them focused on what happened on the 18th green when he handed the win to Jordan Spieth.

“It’s disappointing,” Johnson said that fateful Father’s Day in the Pacific Northwest.

“I had a ton of chances. I’m really proud of the way I hit the ball and the way I controlled myself all day.”

Do you know how many questions McIlroy answered on Sunday?

zero.

Instead of speaking to reporters or anyone from NBC Sports, McIlroy ran to his car before DeChambeau received the trophy. His private jet took off at 7:30 p.m. ET, about 40 minutes after DeChambeau’s miss on the 18th hole, and landed in South Florida an hour and 14 minutes later. Radar Atlas.

Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

“In the age of social media and 24/7 news coverage, I understand it must be exhausting and difficult to face scrutiny, especially in a moment of heartbreak or anguish. I also know there is a lot going on in his personal life. But McIlroy makes millions of dollars from golf. There are hundreds of people covering golf, but their incomes don’t come close to what McIlroy makes. Their job is to share McIlroy’s perspective with millions around the world to advance the game of golf and provide a view into one of the biggest events in golf.”

It is also incumbent on McIlroy to explain what happened.

Did you think Buffalo Bills’ Scott Norwood wanted to do media interviews after missing a game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XV? No. But he did. Norwood, like Mickelson and Johnson, answered every question.

That’s what professional athletes do. McIlroy fell short, ignored the media and failed to account for his own actions, leading to a collapse worse than those seen in 2006 and 2015.

McIlroy knows that too, which is why he decided to walk away.

4. Praise for Pinehurst No. 2

Pinehurst No. 2, take a bow.

You all delivered an amazing and thrilling championship that kept us all entertained all week long.

We have seen devilish shots, ping pong games, off-the-green putts, unreal chip-ins, unimaginable holes-in-ones and some of the world’s best finishes that will be remembered forever.

The strategy required on this golf course is also unparalleled, as this Donald Ross masterpiece forces players to think about angles more than anything else.

Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images

The Greens, albeit crazy, starred like Oscar-winning actors.

Native wiregrass with 75 different species of plants dotted along every fairway left everyone guessing what would happen next every time they hit there.

The course layout is beautiful: difficult par-3 holes will stump players towards the end of the nine, while the fifth and tenth holes (both par-5s) offer rare birdie opportunities early on in the course.

Overall, the course lived up to expectations, but there’s one thing Pinehurst No. 2 could do when the championship returns in 2029: make the wiregrass more plentiful and more penal. Plenty of players were hitting clean shots from there all week. The U.S. Open prides itself on being the toughest test in golf, so why not add more of a challenge to the abandoned area? That way, everyone else will have even more fun.

5. An ode to Golf Channel’s biggest star, Johnson Wagner

After the championship, Golf Channel’s Johnson Wagner decided to recreate the shot Bryson DeChambeau hit on the 18th hole.

Just to be clear, Wagner has become something of a golfing celebrity in recent months thanks to these brief segments on live television.

Since The Players Championship in March, Wagner has appeared on “Live From” humming a ball down the side of a hill, taking a rope-punching shot from a tree, climbing into the woods to evaluate Xander Schauffele’s calls, broadcasting the yips twice and, this week, explaining why Tony Finau and Ludvig Oberg collapsed on the 13th hole.

But nothing topped what he accomplished on Sunday.

After DeChambeau hit the shot over the green, he pulled up to the spot where the now-famous shot was hit, hugged Wagner, and then, with the champion on hand to witness it, DeChambeau told Wagner to take another shot — and offered some advice on how to hit the shot.

Wagner, holding a 50-degree wedge, Hit the perfect chunk and runHis ball landed on the green and rolled toward the cup, just as DeChambeau’s ball had done on the regulation hole.

But Wagner’s ball came to rest even closer than DeChambeau’s, and DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion and Golf Channel’s newest and biggest star, celebrated wildly.

flat ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt To call Johnson that is an honor that deserves a great deal of recognition. Congratulations to Johnson on a spectacular end to a memorable week at Pinehurst No. 2.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.