PINEHURST, N.C. — This was everything you want out of every major championship.
Star power at the top of the leaderboard.
Palpable pressure on every shot.
A taxing and exacting golf course with zero margin for error.
The 124th U.S. Open was a true and proper war of attrition, just as it ought to be.
To borrow the famous intro of ABC’s legendary “Wide World of Sports,’’ the “thrill of victory’’ and “the agony of defeat’’ played out before our eyes in living color. And it was gripping.
At the end of the fourth consecutive baked-out day of oppressive 90-plus-degreee heat on Sunday, it was Bryson DeChambeau who was the last man standing.
Open. Getty Images
It was DeChambeau, with one of the greatest scrambling pars to win it on a 72nd hole you will ever see, who erupted in a wild celebration when he holed out the winning putt from 4 feet, sending the gigantic gallery around 18 into an utter frenzy.
It felt more like a massive football game of consequence than a golf tournament by the way the fans went ballistic.
And it was such a different feel than when DeChambeau won his first U.S. Open, in 2020 at Winged Foot, where there were no spectators because of COVID-19 restrictions.
That win was quiet.
This win was as loud as perhaps any in U.S. Open history.
When it was over, DeChambeau looked to the sky and seemed to embrace the universe above with his arms wide when his winning putt went in to edge out a gutted Rory McIlroy by one shot.
This felt like DeChambeau’s week all along.
The 30-year-old quirky Californian, who’s won over the golf world with his engagement with the fans via social media and his demonstrative celebrations, staved off a passionate and desperate charge on the part of McIlroy that fell agonizingly short when McIlroy came undone on the greens on the final few holes.
McIlroy, seeking his first major championship in 10 years, had seized the tournament lead from DeChambeau, the 54-hole leader, on the back nine.
McIlroy briefly led by two shots when he walked off the 14th green with a birdie to get to 8-under par. But in the end, he ended up finishing an agonizing one shot short because his putter — and his nerves — froze.
McIlroy bogeyed three of the final four holes, missing a par putt inside four feet on the 72nd hole, the ball missing to the right and — shockingly — never even touching the edge of the cup.
The stunning miss left McIlroy at 5-under, one shot behind DeChambeau, who was playing right behind him on 18, needing par to win.
DeChambeau said he “knew where Rory was,’’ referring to when he hit his tee shot on 17 with McIlroy just yards away on the 18th tee.
“After my tee shot on 17, I was up there going, ‘Man, if he makes par [on 18], I don’t know how I’m going to beat him,’ ’’ he said.
“Then, I heard the moans,’’ DeChambeau added, referring to the crowd reaction on 18 when McIlroy missed his par putt. “It was like a shot of adrenaline got in me. I said, ‘OK, you can do this.’ ’’
DeChambeau had hit his drive into a precarious spot to the left of the 18th fairway, with a tree obstructing his backswing and the ball resting right next to a tree root.
He punched the shot, with his club hitting the root, into the greenside bunker to the right of the green, some 50 yards from the hole.
“You got this shot,’’ DeChambeau’s caddie Greg Bodine told him as he was about to descend into the deep bunker. “I’ve seen way harder shots pulled off from you.’’
This is where DeChambeau made one of the great shots in U.S. Open history.
“The shot of my life,’’ DeChambeau said.
“With the pressure he had at that moment, it is one of the best shots in golf history I would say,’’ Matthieu Pavon, who was playing in the final pairing with DeChambeau, said.
“This will be the highlight of my life,’’ DeChambeau said. “I still can’t believe it.’’
Neither could McIlroy, who immediately bolted from the clubhouse with tears in his eyes, went straight to his courtesy car and drove away without speaking to anyone.
The win for DeChambeau was as exhilarating as it was soul-crushing for McIlroy, who’s gone 10 years and 37 tries since his last win at a major championship.
This is going to be a difficult one from which to recover for McIlroy.
After getting to 8-under with the birdie on 14 to take a brief two-shot lead on DeChambeau, McIlroy bogeyed the par-3 15th hole and then bogeyed 16 with his 5-foot par putt lipping out.
That dropped him to 6-under and in a tie with DeChambeau, setting up the incredible taut theater on the final two holes.
McIlroy has now played in 37 major championships since that 2014 PGA win and finished in the top 10 21 times, including 11 top-5 finishes and four runners-up.
None hurt more than this one.
