DeChambeau rewrites the script with six-shot US Open win; stunned McIlroy 12 back
Bryson DeChambeau is interviewed after winning the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course) in Mamaroneck, N.Y. on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020.(Darren Carroll/USGA)
Rory McIlroy was almost at a loss for words as he watched Bryson DeChambeau tear Winged Foot apart and romp to six-shot US Open win.
The Californian (27) said before the start that he intended to hit driver as far as possible and take his chances from there and he was true to his word, closing with a best of the day, three-under 67 to win with ease from Wolff, who shot 75, on six-under.
While DeChambeau's tactics looked like a suicide mission on what is arguably the most punishing of all US Open tests, his combination of power, brilliant course management and deadly putting proved unbeatable as he came from two shots behind Wolff to clinch a win that many believe marks a watershed in the game.
Asked if he felt his win had validated his decision to change his body, he said: “Absolutely. And I'm not going to stop. Next week I'm going to be trying a 48-inch driver. We're going to be messing with some head designs and do some amazing with things with Cobra to make it feasible to hit these drives maybe 360, 370, maybe even farther. I don't know.”
It was all a shock to McIlroy, whose dream of ending his six-year major drought ended almost before it began.
Six shots behind Wolff and five behind DeChambeau on one-over starting the day, the Holywood star (31) believed he still had a chance if he could repeat his third round 68 and put the leaders under pressure.
But he started instead with a gut-wrenching double-bogey six, four putting from 60 feet en route to a five-over 75 that left him tied for eighth on six-over and his critics again questioning his ability to play tough courses on the back foot.
Asked if he’d have believed that a player could win the US Open at a course like Winged Foot by hitting just seven of 21 fairways over the final 27 holes, as DeChambeau did, McIlroy said: “No chance. No chance.
“I don't really know what to say because that's just the complete opposite of what you think a US Open champion does. Look, he's found a way to do it.
“Whether that's good or bad for the game, I don't know, but it's not the way I saw this golf course being played or this tournament being played. It's kind of hard to really wrap my head around it.”
DeChambeau estimates that he has put on some 40 lbs since he left college in 2015, but after adding another 20 lbs during the coronavirus lockdown, he took big hitting and the scientific approach to a whole new level and is now a major winner.
“I think it's brilliant, but I think he's taken advantage of where the game is at the minute,” McIlroy said, forgetting that he drove the ball longer and straighter than the new champion, averaging 328 yards to DeChambeau’s 325.6 and found 31 of 56 fairways to the winner’s 23 of 56.
“Look, again, whether that's good or bad, but it's just the way it is.
“With the way he approaches it, with the arm-lock putting, with everything, it's just where the game's at right now. I'm not saying that's right or wrong. He's just taking advantage of what we have right now.”
Ironically, DeChambeau finished 26th for driving accuracy, the same position as McIlroy when he won the US Open by eight shots in 2011.
But when asked what he thought the governing bodies might be saying in oak-panelled rooms, he said: “He's hitting it forever. That's why he won. I mean, it was a tremendous advantage this week. I kept telling everybody it's an advantage to hit it farther. It's an advantage. Mark Broadie was talking to Chris Como, and they were both talking about how they just made the fairways too small this week to have it be an advantage for guys hitting the fairway. So what I mean by that -- let's take an example of you going like a yard wide. Nobody's got the fairway. Okay, length's going to win. You make the fairways too wide, length's going to win. There's like this balance between widths of fairways and where they want to play it and where they're going to try to make you play it.”
Asked what they might do to curb the distance people like him are hitting the ball, he said: “It's tough to rein in athleticism. We're always going to be trying to get fitter, stronger, more athletic, and Tiger inspired this whole generation to do this, and we're going to keep going after it. I don't think it's going to stop. Will they rein it back? I'm sure. I'm sure something might happen. But I don't know what it will be. I just know that length is always going to be an advantage.”
Winning was always going to be a massive challenge for McIlroy, who had six high-quality players ahead of him starting the day.
But instead of proving to his critics that he can produce a gritty, grinding performance in firm and exacting conditions, his old failings with the wedges and putter were accentuated once more.
After hitting a brilliant drive down the middle at the first, he came up woefully short with a pitching wedge and watched his 80 footer from the front edge fail to climb a ridge and roll back to him.
From there he took three more putts, missing a four-footer for bogey and after following bogeys at the fourth (poor wedge) and seventh (three-putts) with birdies at the ninth and 11th, he would three-putt the 14th and double bogey the 16th after hooking his tee shot deep into trouble.
“It was really difficult,” said McIlroy, who tied for third behind Brendon Todd for driving accuracy (32/56) but tied for 38th for putting.
“It was hard to give yourself enough chances and leave yourself in the right spots where you could make a run at putts and birdie putts and just sort of being real defensive on the greens, trying to sort of think about your next putt and where the best place to leave it is. Yeah, looks like everyone found it pretty tough out there. Just a tough day.”
Paul McGinley was just one of the pundits who believes McIlroy has questions to answer.
“When conditions get tough he has got to find a way to get the ball around the golf course,” McGinley said on Sky Sports. “We all know how good he is and can play that free-flowing aggressive, free-flowing golf but the ability to play on the back foot is something we haven’t seen from him.
“Hopefully he is going to keep on playing between now and the Masters. With the Masters looming the season is far from over.’”
As the chasing pack fell away, Wolff bogeyed the third, fifth and eighth to slip back to two-under as DeChambeau birdied the fourth and then followed a bogey at the eighth with an eagle three from 40 feet at the ninth to get to five-under.
While Wolff followed him in from 12 feet to head down the stretch just a shot off the pace, he would bogey the 10th, 14th and 16th as DeChambeau birdied the 11th from the apron to go three clear, then parred his way home to clinch a hugely impressive victory.
Shane Lowry closed with a 72 to finish tied 43rd on 15-over before heading home to compete in this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Castle.
But despite the power show put on by DeChambeau and Wolff at Winged Foot, the Clara man does not believe we are seeing a new era in golf.
“You still have to be able to control your ball, you still have to be able to chip and putt,” Lowry said. “If it was just about hitting the ball long, the long drivers would be out here playing.
“I don't think distance plays that much of a factor in the game.”
Time will tell if Lowry is correct, but the Offaly man was undoubtedly happier with his sensations than his scores over the four days in New York.
"I think I did okay," he said after making up for a 77 on Saturday that featured two triple bogeys by mixing four birdies and six bogeys yesterday with three of those dropped shots coming at his first three holes.
“I was happier with my game than my score suggests. I made a bit of a disaster yesterday, and I had a bit of a bad run in the first round, but other than that, for I'd say three-quarters of the golf tournament I played as good as I can.
"I played some good golf the last two days, especially after getting off to a bad start today. To shoot one-under for my last 15 holes, that's pretty good out there.”
His plan now is to recharge his batteries for start of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Castle on Thursday and he’s determined to put on a show.
"A week like this really takes it out of you, so important to rest up over the next few days," he said. "I might get a few holes in at some stage, practice, but I'm not going to do too much. I'm going to go out there and give it my best when it comes to it on Thursday. I'll be looking forward to it, and I want to do well in it."
Mallow amateur James Sugrue is also looking forward to the trip after Lee Westwood's post-round comments on Thursday helped him secure a late invitation to join fellow amateurs Mark Power and Tom McKibbin in Ballymena.
Westwood expressed his "shock" that as an Irishman, the 2019 Amateur champion had not received an invitation to play in his national open.
"Lee was an absolute gentleman," said Sugrue, who head straight into the European Tour bubble on his arrival from New York. "We talked horses for a nice bit. I'm interested in them, and he owns lots of good ones, so it was fantastic.
"I think it was the reaction his comments about me got on Twitter really did the business. It's unbelievable that I will get to play in the Irish Open after all.
"The first-ever pro event I watched as a kid was the Irish Open in Killarney with my mam and dad in 2010. Now to be playing in one is very special for me.
"I can't wait to get there next week, and I'm sure it can't be as hard as Winged Foot that's for sure.”
