Bryson DeChambeau wins thrilling US Open to leave Rory McIlroy in agony

Bryson DeChambeau is US Open champion for the second time after beating Rory McIlroy by one stroke, extending the Northern Irishman’s decade-long wait for a fifth major title by at least a month in the most agonizing of fashion at Pinehurst No 2.

The 30-year-old American, one of just a dozen players from the rebellious LIV Golf series in the 156-player field, squandered a three-shot lead overnight before rallying from two strokes behind on a dramatic back nine and kept his nerves in check. in a match of extreme psychological intensity that saw McIlroy botch a series of unforced errors in the final roll.

McIlroy missed two easy putts from within three feet over the final three holes, including from 26 inches for par on the 72nd, leaving DeChambeau needing just a four for the title. The 2020 champion caught a tree root on his drive and sent a second shot into a bunker far away from the green, but made a sensational sand save on his third to within four feet, where he rolled it home before heaving with joy jumped around the green. .

DeChambeau signed for a one-over 71 to finish six under and one better than McIlroy this week in the 124th match of the U.S. National Championship, which will surely be among the most unforgettable. He became only the fifth player since World War II to win the US Open more than once while aged 30 or younger, joining a list of honors that includes Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka.

“I still can’t believe that,” DeChambeau said while watching a replay during the trophy presentation. “Probably the best photo of my life.” As for McIlroy, he cut a collected but despondent figure, refusing interviews in the aftermath and leaving Pinehurst almost immediately after his rival’s final putt fell.

It didn’t take long for this heavyweight showdown between two of the sport’s biggest stars to catch fire. McIlory, playing one group ahead of DeChambeau for the first time since last year’s feisty Ryder Cup meeting with Cantlay, wasted no time in closing the gap, birdieing the first from 20 feet before DeChambeau even followed the course, a statement of intent that hinted at the battle ahead.

The tightly packed group of names under DeChambeau and McIlroy quickly thinned out, paving the way for a two-way match. Ludvig Åberg, the US Open debutant who led after 36 holes, made a triple-bogey on the second hole to effectively remove himself from contention. Matthieu Pavon’s birdie on the 3rd could not cancel out the bogeys on the 1st and 4th. Hideki Matsuyama opened with eight straight pars, but dropped a shot back with a bogey on the 9th.

DeChambeau overcame early setbacks and a string of bad breaks, saving pars on drives that ended up in a fairway divot on the 1st and a bunker on the 2nd. His lead shrank to one after a bogey on the 4th, but McIlroy gave the shot right back moments later when he was lucky to save bogey after what looked like a wedge shot on the highlight-reel approach ran all the way down the hill and in the native sand area.

The American spent the week trading his familiar bomb-and-gouge style for a more patient, conservative wave that he described as “boring,” but old habits die hard and he started to break that promise when he was approaching the bend when he daringly hit a driver. directly from the 7th tee.

By the time McIlroy put in a 15-foot birdie on the 9th to take sole possession of second place at five under and one shot off DeChambeau’s lead, the clouds that had provided refuge from the 90F (32ºC) temperatures broke and broke the leaders Pressure was applied in conditions more similar to those of Friday and Saturday, when extreme weather warnings were activated around the site.

Moments later, DeChambeau was forced to take a shot back until nearby chants of “Ro-ry! Ro-ry!” faded – rolling in a long putt to hold the outright lead, punctuating a miraculous up-and-down from the nature reserve with a flailing fist pump amid deafening roars.

It wasn’t hard to imagine NBC executives and the USGA bigwigs drooling from a climate-controlled outpost: A Rory-Bryson duel on Sunday afternoon in the back nine of the US Open on one of America’s most venerable courses promised a high-profile brawl. between the sport’s two most compelling personalities.

Divided by professional golf’s civil war, the duo were united here by a brutally difficult course that had prompted dozens of the world’s best to raise the white flag. The pars felt like birdies and birdies felt like eagles on a burnt-out back nine, with every shot from hole to tee charged with heartbreaking tension. The fifteen scores under par after Thursday’s first round were reduced to six.

McIlroy eventually tied with DeChambeau, who, in his longest putt of the week from 27 feet, made a second consecutive birdie at the 10th, sending the crowd around the green into delirium. But the drama was just beginning.

DeChambeau nosed ahead on the 10th, hitting an excellent pitch close after a hard-hit fairway shot and depositing for birdie, stopping between holes to sign an autograph for a fan. McIlroy could hear the cheers behind him as he made a birdie putt on the 11th green, but missed by inches to stay one off the pace.

Moments after DeChambeau converted a dramatic par save on the 11th, McIlroy rolled out another hairy putt on the 12th to go seven under and get back into the tie for the lead. McIlroy’s third birdie in four holes sparked even more rapturous chants. A fourth on five put him two ahead of DeChambeau on eight under, the trophy suddenly in sight.

It wasn’t over yet. Just as the supporters of McIlroy’s legion were ready to exhale, he sent a drive from the 13th tee into the pine straw to the right of the fairway. Taking time to clean up a drive to the nature area, DeChambeau narrowly missed an Eagle Putt on 13 before clearing for birdie to get within a shot of the lead. When McIlroy dropped a shot on the 16th, the leaders were all square at seven under.

What seemed to be a defining moment came on the 15th green. Shortly after missing a putt to regain the lead, DeChambeau missed a tiddler and fell one stroke behind. But McIlroy returned the gift by missing a 19-inch gimme on the 16th, prompting a collective gasp as he pulled back to level at six under with two holes to play. For the new world No. 2, the worst was yet to come.

McIlroy hit a driver into the brush on the 72nd hole and ran to within three feet. That left him with a 26-inch putt to stay in touch with the lead, but a second miss on the final three holes nearly gave the title to DeChambeau, who needed a par from a sketchy lie to end the show to close. As McIlroy calmly gnawed a Powerbar in the scoring zone, DeChambeau sent it within four of the pin. The result was a handshake away.

They were the 497th and 498th putts from within three feet that McIlroy had attempted this year. He would made each of the previous 496but it is Sunday’s duo that will be remembered longest.

“Rory is one of the best to ever play. It’s very special to be able to fight against such greatness,” said DeChambeau. “If he missed that putt, I would never wish that on anyone. It just happened that way.”

DeChambeau’s victory extends the Americans’ dominance of the four major golf tournaments not seen in more than four decades. Six different American players have won each of the past six majors, starting with Brooks Koepka at last year’s US PGA Championship, Wyndham Clark at last year’s US Open, Brian Harman at the Open, Scottie Scheffler at Augusta and Xander Schauffele previous month on Valhalla.

That represents the longest streak of American winners in more than forty years, when Bill Rogers (1981 Open), Larry Nelson (1981 US PGA), Craig Stadler (1982 Masters), Tom Watson (1982 US Open and 1982 Open) and Raymond Floyd ( 1982 US PGA) made it six.

DeChambeau will take home the winner’s share of around $4.3 million (£3.39 million) from the $21.5 million (£16.8 million) prize fund, a record for a major tournament.

McIlroy, whose last major triumph came at the 2014 US PGA when it was held in August, has come closest to ending his US Open drought. He had arrived at Pinehurst with a string of top-10 finishes in his past five outings, with each of those finishes better than the last, including last year when he finished one shot behind Wyndham Clark.

The putting problems that had cost him his life in recent big chases seemed resolved for much of Sunday as he complemented towering iron shots that fell almost vertically on target with a sparkle on the green that was his escaped. Until it didn’t.

When he finished second at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club a year ago, McIlroy said: “If I finally win this next major, it will be very, very nice. I would go through a hundred Sundays like this to get another major championship.”

After the cruelest near misses in the sandhills of North Carolina, the wait for that elusive feeling will continue.