Bryson DeChambeau really wanted to go for the 13th hole with one blow at the US Open on Saturday.
“Please don’t boo me, I’m sorry,” he said to the fans next to the 368-yard par 4 tee box as he pulled an iron from the bag. He did have a one-shot lead, I suppose. He exercised the boring golf he mentioned before the event and resisted his temptation to let rip.
But he push-chunked the shot into one of the many Pinehurst bunkers and egg was on his face after joking with spectators just moments before. His smile was back when he splashed his approach to four feet for birdie. The comedy wasn’t over – he missed the short putt, so it was just a par in the end, after all of that.
A more DeChambeau-like sequence you couldn’t make up yourself. He has always been an entertaining character and one who admits to being different to the rest, but he has the game that is the perfect equaliser. He can back his antics with world-class moments.
The 30-year-old took the outright lead in North Carolina after a birdie on hole 10. Not long after, television footage showed the former US Open champion being stretched out by a physio over a fence under tall trees. It was reported by Todd Lewis of Golf Channel that the American woke up with discomfort in his right hip before day three’s action.
So of course, his next drive on the 480-yard par-4 11th hole went 359 yards, which led to another birdie. All the while, DeChambeau paraded his logo of the Crushers, the LIV Golf team that he captains, which features a golf ball and two tees in the style of a skull and crossbones.
Hole 8 saw another DeChambeauism. After hitting his drive which travelled 375 yards, chants of ‘USA, USA’ went up and Bryson raised his arms and encouraged an increase in volume, as per a fan on the ground. Maybe Team USA did miss him in Rome at the end of last year. DeChambeau certainly would’ve been a source of passion and pride in Zach Johnson’s dressing room.
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Bryson DeChambeau: US Open antics on Saturday were a joy to watch
Sky Sports commentator Andrew Coltart might not have liked it, but watching the flamboyant bomber from Dallas, Texas sign a young golf fan’s autograph in the heat of battle was a breath of fresh air, and just another chapter of his Saturday saga.
Fist-pump after fist-pump swung up and down. In Ludvig Aberg’s fledgeling professional career, I’d be shocked if he’d shared the fairways during such an afternoon with such a man. It has been written many times, but an afternoon like this shows us what the PGA Tour misses and arguably, what it desperately needs.
What other person can you say releases a video of himself dressed like a pre-World War One golfer playing with hickory clubs that leads by four shots at one stage of the US Open’s third round? Box office doesn’t describe him, but it seems to be the phrase we all use.
In 2022, he was one of the first big names to join the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League along with Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. This trio are superstar major-winners in their own right and they are recognisable names. But some golf fans might sympathise with me in saying these players haven’t caused them to switch their golf-watching schedule to LIV Golf’s free-to-air YouTube platform on a regular basis. Far from it.
And neither has Jon Rahm. This is not to say I don’t watch LIV Golf, but my watching ratio between the start-up tour and the PGA Tour is incomparable. It is the institution of my interest in golf. My preference could completely change one day and, if it does, that will be down to one man.
Three majors into 2024, DeChambeau has played world-class golf and reminded us all of his electric personality and smile. He divides opinion with his own opinions (see here his roll-back views and his world-ranking rant), but I care about his opinion.
He reminds me of Floyd Mayweather. Although DeChambeau can’t be considered the best ever in his discipline whereas Floyd can, you would tune into Floyd hoping he either gets knocked out or you see a masterpiece victory. You might’ve taken equal pleasure from either outcome- if Mayweather had ever been knocked out.
When DeChambeau makes a triple-bogey or an albatross, you will be entertained. He galvanises my interest. Whether or not he wins his second US Open title this week, I won’t just settle for seeing him at Royal Troon for The Open Championship in July, I want more Bryson.
If this man doesn’t make you watch LIV Golf, then I fear for them that nothing will.
Bryson DeChambeau carded a 67 on Saturday to lead the 2024 US Open by three shots heading into the final round.
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