DECHAMBEAU SURVIVES, BUT HOW WILL MCILROY HANDLE ANOTHER BREAKDOWN?
If it was heartwarming to see the winner hail his late father, McIlroy might wait forever to take another major after missing two short putts, making us ask what happens in his problematic family life
His father, Jon, died two years ago. Between 2020 and Sunday evening at Pinehurst No. 2, Bryson DeChambeau has shrunk from an overindulged monster into the most fun golfer of what should be a very fun sport. Who can forget seeing him add 50 pounds of huskiness on 3,500-calorie barrages, complete with protein shakes? He seemed freaky, if not ready for a urine test.
Today, in part because his father lost two kidneys from diabetes and suggested golf take a lesser role, DeChambeau has rediscovered his brilliance. Looking fresh and ripped after challenging in the first two majors this year, he survived a U.S. Open that made us smile. Yes, it was sickly to see Rory McIlroy miss two late putts almost shorter than his shoe size, knowing he’d recently called off divorce proceedings with wife Erica and plays for a daughter named Poppy. And he’ll keep waiting for a major championship that hasn’t happened in 10 years, perhaps waiting forever.
He missed easy chances and stormed out of the clubhouse, bogeying three of the final four holes and spinning his SUV tires in the gravel. What will happen to McIlroy now? At the Ryder Cup, he picked a fight with a caddie. During his marital breakup, he was said to be getting close with the CBS reporter, Amanda Balionis. How will someone of his skill continue after once again cracking? Is he the game’s biggest choker since Greg Norman? We have a long future with McIlroy.
The winner is DeChambeau, who won amid memories of Payne Stewart at the same course and thanked the North Carolina fans for supporting him. He couldn’t hit a fairway all day and drove beside a tree root on the final hole, leaving him in a dirt stretch as he stood under a tree. In some crazy manner, he blasted a shot into the bunker, then made the shot of his life from 55 yards. All he needed was four more feet. “USA! USA!” the crowd chanted in Tar Heel land, ignoring his contentious role in LIV Golf, preferring him over the Euro.
When he made his putt, he looked to the sky and let his arms flail as he screamed and jogged, hurling his cap and staring at the rowdies. We’ve made so much of Scottie Scheffler in the post-Tiger era, but don’t forget Bryson. The old concern was why he required such hulky bulk. What’s inside his mind came forward as he won for Jon, four years after he stared into a Cisco camera at Winged Foot and spoke to his father and mother as the world watched amid a pandemic.
“That’s pain right there, baby!” said DeChambeau, blowing kisses to the mobs and throwing his winning ball. “Can you believe that? Oh, my god!”
Minutes later, speaking to the crowd, he immediately emphasized the holiday. “I want to say ‘Happy Father’s Day’ to every father out there. Unfortunately, my dad passed away a couple of years ago,” he said. “This one’s for him.”
It was difficult not to enjoy him, despite his money relationship with LIV and Norman. Two problematic hips only added to his plague. After finishing No. 10, he spent time signing an autograph for a young man with special needs. He wore a funky LIV cap that included tees as crossbones, but we were too busy watching him battle McIlroy as two of the sport’s best drivers. When McIlroy went on a binge with four birdies in five holes through No. 13, DeChambeau needed help. Guess where he found it?
“Rory was going on a heater, and he slipped up on a couple on the way coming in, and I just kept staying the course,” he said. “After my tee shot, I was up there going, 'Man, if he makes par, I don't know how I'm going to beat him.' I just really didn't know. Then I heard the moans. Like a shot of adrenaline got in me. I said, 'OK, you can do this.’”
Slipped up? The collapse was enough to let DeChambeau join only three others to win two U.S. Opens and one U.S. Amateur: Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. “I can't believe that up and down on the last. The best shot of my life,” he said. With glory to Stewart, who made a 15-foot par putt to win the Open in 1999, he shouted, “That’s Payne right there, baby!”
Most of all, he thanked Pinehurst. “I want all of you guys, somehow. I want you guys to touch this trophy because I want you to experience what this feels like for me,” he said. “You were a part of this journey this week, and I want you to be a part of it for the after party.”
As they gather, they might notice McIlroy heading to the airport. “Rory is one of the best to ever play," DeChambeau said. "Being able to fight against a great like that is pretty special. For him to miss that putt, I'd never wish it on anybody. It just happened to play out that way." It always does, when McIlroy is involved. One wonderful Father’s Day became another man’s repeat horror.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.