Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and now Bryson DeChambeau. They are the three golfers who have captured an NCAA individual title, a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open. DeChambeau joined that esteemed fraternity on Sunday at Winged Foot Golf Club with a performance for the ages on what many consider one of the game’s most demanding championship tests.
DeChambeau carded a final-round, 3-under-par 67 to earn a decisive six-stroke victory over 54-hole leader and wunderkind Matthew Wolff, who was vying to become the first U.S. Open rookie to win the title since 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet in 1913.
“It's just an honor,” said DeChambeau, who also is the 12th player to have won a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open. “I don't know what else to say. It's been a lot of hard work. Mr. Nicklaus has been always awesome to me. Tiger has always been great to me. I can't say thank you enough to them for helping push me along to be a better person and a better golfer, as well. To be in the likes of that company is special. I'll forever appreciate that.”
The West Course has a well-earned reputation for doling out punishment in its previous major-championship turns. Three of the four previous U.S. Opens held on the A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece in the post-World War II era produced over-par winning scores, including the famous “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974 when Hale Irwin triumphed with a 7-over total of 287.
Notable
The champion receives custody of the U.S. Open Trophy for one year as well as the Jack Nicklaus Medal, exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Opens, and five-year exemptions into the other three major championships.
Champion Bryson DeChambeau tied for fifth in greens in regulation (46), despite tying for 26th in fairways hit (23).
DeChambeau’s total strokes gained of 7.90 is the fourth-highest by a champion since 1960. Johnny Miller (10.77 in 1963), Arnold Palmer (9.29 in 1960) and Jack Nicklaus (8.19 in 1967) were higher.
This was just the third time since 2000 that the champion was the only player in red figures (Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2002).
Justin Thomas, the first-round leader, recorded the most birdies (16)
The top 10 scorers and ties earned exemptions into the 2021 U.S. Open next June at Torrey Pines Golf Course’s South Course. That list includes Will Zalatoris, the leading money winner on the Korn Ferry Tour, and Zach Johnson, who was in the last year of his five-year exemption for winning the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews.
Not a single bogey-free round was recorded in the championship.
The final-round scoring average was 74.9, which was nearly 1.4 strokes higher than 2006 and just under a stroke lower than 1974. The par-4 first ranked as the toughest (4.56), while the par-5 ninth was once again the easiest (4.51).
There were 54 double bogeys recorded on Sunday compared to just 22 on Saturday.
Winged Foot head professional Mike Gilmore played in the first pairing as a non-competitive marker with Abraham Ancer. With Danny Lee’s withdrawal on Saturday, an odd number of players (61) remained for the final round. Ancer chose to have a non-competitive marker instead of playing solo. Gilmore has competed in two U.S. Opens – 1992 at Pebble Beach and 2008 at Torrey Pines.
Michael Thompson, who made his USGA debut at Winged Foot in the 2004 U.S. Amateur and said after winning the 2020 3M Open that the West Course is his personal favorite, had a first-nine scorecard without a par. It included three birdies, five bogeys and one double bogey for a 4-over 39.
Harris English, who finished fourth, lost a ball in the rough on his opening hole, leading to a double bogey.
Quotable
“I think I'm definitely changing the way people think about the game. Now, whether you can do it, that's a whole different situation. There's a lot of people that are going to be hitting it far. Matthew [Wolff] was hitting it plenty far today. A couple of putts just didn't go in for him today and kept the momentum on my side. So he's definitely got the firepower and the strength to do it. You've got to be looking out for him in the future. There's a lot of young guns that are unbelievable players, and I think the next generation that's coming up into golf hopefully will see this and go, hey, I can do that too.” – Bryson DeChambeau
“He played really well. I was just told that there's a lot of people in here saying what he's doing is pretty exceptional. To watch it firsthand, I have to agree. I feel like I played really well, and that's the difference out here between 4 over and 4 under is just those little tiny breaks that I didn't get.” – Matthew Wolff
“It's the longest week of golf that I've ever played, and something that I'm going to know for the future, and next time I play, I'll just know that it's going to be a really long week and a marathon, and I just have to keep my head high.” -- Wolff
“I think probably have to look at the finish more than anything else. Finishing third in a major is always great. It was going to be tough. You could see early on what Bryson and Matt were going to do, and Bryson is playing his own little golf course at the moment. This golf course definitely showed its teeth today with the firmness of the greens and the fairways and the wind, and it was just tough.” – Louis Oosthuizen on finishing third
“Overall, it was good. I grinded out there. I grinded all week. Pretty happy with my performance, especially the way it started. I could have mailed it in pretty quickly, but I didn't do that. I was trying to get in the hunt, really for the first time in a major.” – Harris English after finishing fourth
“I've never played very well at Torrey [Pines], [so I’m] looking forward to trying to improve on that. Maybe it will be a U.S. Open, and it will be something I like more than just a normal tournament… Excited to be on the West Coast.” – Xander Schauffele on playing next year’s U.S. Open in his hometown of San Diego
“I don't really know what to say because that's just the complete opposite of what you think a U.S. 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 just 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.” – Rory McIlroy on champion Bryson DeChambeau winning despite hitting 23 fairways for the week (41 percent)
“It was a great experience. I've been playing well all year. I just found out that obviously top 10 gets us into next year, too, so that's obviously pretty exciting. Hopefully, it holds. I think it will.” – Will Zalatoris after shooting 71 and finishing tied for sixth
“I have never played in anything like [the U.S. Open], a golf course this hard. The competition this tough. It just proves all my hard work is paying off and my game is at a point where I can try and compete against the best players in the world.” – John Pak, when asked if being low amateur validated his game
“It was a dream week to begin with. I didn't want it to end. I hardly could sleep. And to cap it off with being able to play as a marker with Abraham [Ancer] made it just that much more special, just icing on the cake.” – Winged Foot head professional Mike Gilmore, on being a non-competitive marker for the final round
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