Bryson DeChambeau Executes An All-Time Heist In The U.S. Open Rory McIlroy Gives Away

Can you believe that? That's the question Bryson DeChambeau shouted into a camera while walking off of the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2 on Sunday, seconds after winning the 2024 U.S. Open. While it may be a simple question, the answer is a complicated one.

When looking at the entire trajectory of his career and the type of player he is, DeChambeau becoming a two-time major champion with his second U.S. Open victory isn't exactly a surprise. Winning two majors in a career is of course a phenomenal feat, but a U.S. Amateur champion who happened to develop into one of the all-time great drivers of the golf ball who can chip and putt it with the best of them, climbing golf's grandest mountaintop not once, but twice, isn't exactly a Hollywood script.

As for DeChambeau's final round Sunday at Pinehurst, one he began with a three-shot lead, that was pure cinema as it felt more like fiction than witnessing something play out in real-time.

Prior to stepping to the first tee Sunday, DeChambeau's day turned rather unique as he "flattened" the face of his driver on the driving range, forcing him to replace the head of his driver less than 20 minutes before his tee time.

This turned out to be a foreshadowing of just how drama-packed the next five hours of DeChambeau's life would be. He was responsible for plenty of it, but so too was Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy stood on the 15th tee at 8-under par, yet DeChambeau walked off the 18th green as a winner at 6-under. 

The 2024 U.S. Open will be remembered as ‘the one Rory McIlroy gave away' as he missed two putts inside of 5 feet while bogeying three of his final four holes to finish one shot shy of DeChambeau.

McIlroy gave away the golf tournament, there is no arguing against that, but DeChambeau deserves plenty of credit for how well he executed things not only down the stretch, but throughout the entirety of his final round.

The 30-year-old known for his driving managed to hit just 5-of-14 fairways Sunday afternoon, tying him for the lowest success rate of the day. Of the 32 other players who hit nine or fewer fairways during the final round, only three other players finished inside the Top 10 on the leaderboard. 

Missing fairways at Pinehurst No. 2 means putting things up to fate. Either you draw a somewhat favorable lie in the fescue and shrubbery-filled sand areas that outline every fairway, or you find your ball in a spot where even the best players in the world can barely advance it.

DeChambeau was living right Sunday, as he drew above-average lies, relatively speaking, far more often than not when missing the fairway. Outside of his bogey on the Par 4 12th after a wayward tee shot, DeChambeau was able to take his medicine in stride as he carded just two bogeys on the Par 4s and Par 5s combined Sunday.

"I go back to being a kid. So when I was a kid, I used to throw golf balls in the worst lies outside of the fairway and just learned to hit out of the worst situations to see what I could do," DeChambeau said when asked about his fortunate breaks in the unpredictable areas off the fairways. "That sparked a lot of my creativity. But then I'd go back and work on the mechanics really hard."

As for ‘the moment’ that every major championship presents, this year's U.S. Open presented two that the golf world will be talking about for years and years to come.

After McIlroy made bogey on the Par 3 15th to make things tied at the top, DeCheambeau, who was playing in the final group behind his counterpart, knocked his tee shot to 26 feet. From there, he went on to three-putt for the first time all week, and in the moment, it felt like McIlroy had won the golf tournament right then and there.

Fast-forward around 10 minutes, and McIlroy managed to do the exact same thing as DeChambeau.

After hitting his approach shot to inside 25-feet on the difficult Par 4 16th hole, McIlroy was presented with an opportunity to put every ounce of pressure on DeChambeau, yet three-putted with a miss from 2 feet, 6 inches.

In that 10 or so minute stretch, the U.S. Open went from being Rory's to being up for grabs yet again, and DeChambeau was there to grab the gift that McIlroy handed to him.

DeChambeau did not make it easy on himself, however. 

One of those nine wayward teeshots presented itself on the 72nd hole as he yanked his teeshot well left where his ball nestled up next to a tree root. After somehow advancing his golf ball somewhat straight, he was left with a brutally awkward 55-yard bunker shot. 

After managing to be an escape artist throughout Sunday's final round getting virtually everything up and down, maybe this was the moment that DeChambeau's luck would run out and we'd be heading for what would be an all-time playoff.

It turns out that DeChambeau had one more trick up his sleeve, and managed to hit what he described as "the shot of my life" to get up and down for par to become a two-time U.S. Open champion.

So, back to that question that DeChambeau asked golf fans around the world: can you believe it?

Yes and no are both acceptable answers.

Yes, DeChambeau winning his second U.S. Open at one of the most difficult tests the USGA has presented in quite some time makes plenty of sense. The U.S. Open requires you to check each and every box imaginable, and DeChambeau's game checks all of them. He finished the week 10th in strokes gained: around the green, for what it's worth.

Then again, no, we can't believe that DeChambeau is the 2024 U.S. Open champion. There isn't one person in the world who would have predicted McIlroy missing two putts inside 5 feet over the final four holes to squander the best opportunity he's had to snap his decade-long major championship drought, but here we are.