Look ma… that YouTube golfer just won the US OPEN!

Bryson DeChambeau celebrates after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament on Sunday in Pinehurst, N.C.
Mike Stewart/AP

Yes that’s right. A professional golfer first. A YouTube golfer second. A golfer who thinks the world of golf fans and who doesn’t even play on the PGA Tour. Yes he’s that YouTube golfer alright. A golf content creator on a social media platform whose thoughts of reaching out to golfers around the world was his primary main objective. A golfer who not too long ago, circa 2020/21, you would never thought of liking because of his narcissistic ways of time wasting and irritating fellow professionals on the greens,  namely one Bruce Koepka.

Fast forward 2024, post US OPEN, guess who is now the new face in the sport of golf and one of the most likeable characters in sport. Yes ma… it’s Bryson DeChambeau.

Once again, an up-and-down par on the 72nd hole decided a U.S. Open Championship for a former Southern Methodist University golfer at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2.

It might not have been an 18-footer by the late Payne Stewart on an uncharacteristically misty 1999 day in the North Carolina Sandhills, but the remarkable sand save by Bryson DeChambeau to win the 124th edition by one stroke in what was the 1,000th USGA championship was every bit as dramatic.

DeChambeau, who carried a three-stroke advantage into Sunday’s final round on a glorious sunny Father’s Day afternoon, survived a wild back nine that saw him lose the lead to four-time major champion Rory McIlroy before executing a perfect bunker shot from 54 yards on the par-4 18th hole to 4 feet. It came some 15 minutes after McIlroy, seeking his first major title in 10 years, lipped out a 4-foot par putt for his third bogey over his final four holes, dropping him one shot behind DeChambeau.

After DeChambeau, whose short game was impeccable the entire week, holed the putt with McIlroy watching from the scoring area, the packed grandstands around the 18th green erupted in one of the loudest roars of the week. It capped off a 1-over-par 71 for a 72-hole total of 6-under 274.

“I’m so happy I got that shot up-and-down on 18,” DeChambeau told the assembled media. “Oh, man, I didn’t want to finish second again. PGA really stung. Xander [Schauffele] played magnificent.

“I wanted to get this one done, especially at such a special place that means so much to me, SMU, my [late] dad (Jon who died in 2022 from diabetes), what Payne meant to him, 1000th USGA championship. Stack them on top. That bunker shot was the shot of my life. I’ll forever be thankful that I’ve got longer wedges so I can hit it farther, get it up there next to the hole.”

The 30-year-old Grapevine, Texas, resident by way of Clovis, Calif., joins a select group of 23 golfers who have won multiple U.S. Open titles, a list that includes Ben Hogan, Bob Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and fellow Mustang Stewart. Like Nicklaus and Woods, he also owns U.S. Amateur and NCAA individual crowns to go along with his National Open victories.

From the time the final pairings teed off shortly after 2 p.m. EDT, Pinehurst No. 2 sounded like a rock concert with deafening roars cheering on the combatants, who also included Patrick Cantlay, Matthieu Pavon and Tony Finau. Finau’s final-round 67 matched the day’s lowest round and earned him a career-best tie for third with Cantlay at 4-under 276. Cantlay, an eight-time PGA Tour winner still seeking a first major title, fired a 70, while Pavon, the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open champion who had never been in a final-round final pairing in a major, posted a 71 for solo fifth at 277.

Bryson DeChambeau became the 23rd player to win multiple U.S. Open titles, joining some of game’s legendary figures. (USGA/Jeff Haynes)

Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, finished sixth (278) after a final-round 70. Russell Henley and world No. 2 Schauffele tied for seventh at 1-under 279 after shooting 67 and 68, respectively.

Even though the final round began with three players trailing DeChambeau by three strokes, it ultimately came down to a two-man race between McIlroy and DeChambeau, two of the game’s biggest stars.

Unfortunately for the affable Northern Irishman, who carded a second consecutive 69, Pinehurst’s last four holes were the difference between him getting major No. 5 and suffering another Grand Slam heartache. Over the weekend, he played Holes 15-18 in 5 over par, missing two par putts inside 5 feet on Sunday at 16 and 18. Otherwise, he had been 50 for 50 on putts of 5 feet or less for the week. In Saturday’s third round, he bogeyed the two closing par 3s, Nos. 15 and 17, failing to get up and down from greenside bunkers.

McIlroy started off Sunday blistering hot, converting a 21-footer for birdie on the par-4 opening hole. In a five-hole stretch from No. 9, he made three birdies from 15 feet or more, including a 27-footer on the par-5 10th, and got up and down for birdie on the 316-yard 13th hole, holing a 5-footer to reach 8 under par for the championship. That came as DeChambeau bogeyed No. 12 to fall back to 6 under par.

The stars seemed aligned for McIlroy to end his 10 years of major misery. A year ago, he came up a stroke short of Wyndham Clark at The Los Angeles Country Club. At the 150th Open Championship on the Old Course at St. Andrews, he fired a pedestrian 2-under 70 on Sunday as Cameron Smith shot 64 and hoisted the Claret Jug.

Going back to his 2014 triumph in the PGA Championship – a span now covering 37 major championships – McIlroy owns 21 top-10 finishes in majors. Besides his 2023 U.S. Open runner-up, he finished second or tied for second in the 2018 Open Championship and 2022 Masters. He finished no worse than solo eighth in all four majors in 2022.

“At the end of the day we are all human,” said Pavon of McIlroy, who declined media requests. “Rory has been chasing another major [for] many years. He is one of the best players in the world, a true champion. The more you want it, the tougher it gets, and the highest expectation you have for yourself, the tougher it gets. Maybe this is a little bit of pressure that got him today for sure, but Rory is just a massive champion. I’m sure he will fight back and really soon.”

This U.S. Open triumph completes a two-year transformation for DeChambeau. In 2022, he surprised many by departing the PGA Tour for the upstart Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. He also bulked up through weight training and diet in an effort to gain more distance, but the transition turned DeChambeau into something of a polarizing figure.

In the past year, he slimmed down and and began endearing himself more to fans. In April, he contended at the Masters, only to finish in a share of sixth, nine strokes behind winner and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. A month later, he was simply outdueled by Schauffele, despite shooting 20 under par at Valhalla Golf Club in the PGA Championship.

“I don’t know what to think; it hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” said DeChambeau of his second U.S. Open title. “I just want everybody to enjoy it, as well. As much as it is heartbreaking for some people, it was heartbreak for me at the PGA. I really wanted this one. 

Hwo missed par putts inside of 5 feet late on Sunday ultimately denied Rory McIlroy a chance to end his 10-year major-less drought. (USGA/Kathryn Riley)

Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, finished sixth (278) after a final-round 70. Russell Henley and world No. 2 Schauffele tied for seventh at 1-under 279 after shooting 67 and 68, respectively.

Even though the final round began with three players trailing DeChambeau by three strokes, it ultimately came down to a two-man race between McIlroy and DeChambeau, two of the game’s biggest stars.

Unfortunately for the affable Northern Irishman, who carded a second consecutive 69, Pinehurst’s last four holes were the difference between him getting major No. 5 and suffering another Grand Slam heartache. Over the weekend, he played Holes 15-18 in 5 over par, missing two par putts inside 5 feet on Sunday at 16 and 18. Otherwise, he had been 50 for 50 on putts of 5 feet or less for the week. In Saturday’s third round, he bogeyed the two closing par 3s, Nos. 15 and 17, failing to get up and down from greenside bunkers.

McIlroy started off Sunday blistering hot, converting a 21-footer for birdie on the par-4 opening hole. In a five-hole stretch from No. 9, he made three birdies from 15 feet or more, including a 27-footer on the par-5 10th, and got up and down for birdie on the 316-yard 13th hole, holing a 5-footer to reach 8 under par for the championship. That came as DeChambeau bogeyed No. 12 to fall back to 6 under par.

The stars seemed aligned for McIlroy to end his 10 years of major misery. A year ago, he came up a stroke short of Wyndham Clark at The Los Angeles Country Club. At the 150th Open Championship on the Old Course at St. Andrews, he fired a pedestrian 2-under 70 on Sunday as Cameron Smith shot 64 and hoisted the Claret Jug.

Going back to his 2014 triumph in the PGA Championship – a span now covering 37 major championships – McIlroy owns 21 top-10 finishes in majors. Besides his 2023 U.S. Open runner-up, he finished second or tied for second in the 2018 Open Championship and 2022 Masters. He finished no worse than solo eighth in all four majors in 2022.

“At the end of the day we are all human,” said Pavon of McIlroy, who declined media requests. “Rory has been chasing another major [for] many years. He is one of the best players in the world, a true champion. The more you want it, the tougher it gets, and the highest expectation you have for yourself, the tougher it gets. Maybe this is a little bit of pressure that got him today for sure, but Rory is just a massive champion. I’m sure he will fight back and really soon.”

This U.S. Open triumph completes a two-year transformation for DeChambeau. In 2022, he surprised many by departing the PGA Tour for the upstart Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. He also bulked up through weight training and diet in an effort to gain more distance, but the transition turned DeChambeau into something of a polarizing figure.

In the past year, he slimmed down and and began endearing himself more to fans. In April, he contended at the Masters, only to finish in a share of sixth, nine strokes behind winner and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. A month later, he was simply outdueled by Schauffele, despite shooting 20 under par at Valhalla Golf Club in the PGA Championship.

“I don’t know what to think; it hasn’t fully sunk in yet,” said DeChambeau of his second U.S. Open title. “I just want everybody to enjoy it, as well. As much as it is heartbreaking for some people, it was heartbreak for me at the PGA. I really wanted this one. 

A closing birdie on No. 18 gave Tony Finau a share of third place with Patrick Cantlay, his best-ever finish in a U.S. Open. (USGA/Jeff Haynes)

*Credit information www.usopen.com written By David Shefter, USGA

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