Bryan Armen Graham’s final round report is in and with that we’re done. What a finale. Thanks for reading the blog. See you at Royal Troon!
US Open: Bryson DeChambeau holds off Rory McIlroy to win title – as it happened
The Texan won his second US Open title after Rory McIlroy missed two crucial short putts to extend his long wait for another major
Updated
Sun 16 Jun 2024 19.21 EDT
First published on Sun 16 Jun 2024 10.23 EDT
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A giddy Bryson DeChambeau is letting all the fans who want to touch the trophy touch it. The people’s champion. Astounding scenes. In its way as bonkers as the finale was. Terrific.
And where did it go right for DeChambeau? Perhaps ultimately he had fresh experience of contending in the majors (he led the Masters, he was an excellent second in the PGA Championship). He emerged from those feeling hungry and excited. At Valhalla he said: “I said it was closing time. It wasn’t but hopefully it will be closing time in the next couple of majors.” It only took one.
Where did it go wrong for McIlroy? Perhaps there were three key moments. 1. The tee shot at the par-3 15th which bounded through the green. He led then but made bogey. 2. His putting wilted from being among the best we had seen from him in recent majors to those two awful misses. And 3. Hitting driver (or hitting a bad driver) off the final tee.
What about the final round? The champion says: “Man I felt like I was hitting driver pretty well today but it just wasn’t starting where I wanted. I kept staying the course. I got out of trouble well. And, man, that last shot was probably the best of my life.”
DeChambeau briefly donned his Payne Stewart-style hat and then pointed to the skies. “I want to say Happy Father’s Day to every father out there,” he says. “Unfortunately I lost my father a few years ago. This one’s for him.”
The full trophy presentation is taking place right now. The bullish USGA Managing Director Mike Whan is delivering a speech with more energy than every Butler Cabin ceremony put together and multiplied by at least 30. And now Bryson DeChambeau is called forward. He looks understandably and deservedly delighted. He just takes a second before taking hold of the trophy and now lifts it to the acclaim of the galleries.
Patrick Cantlay’s tied third equals his major championship best. Incredibly, it is only his second top six finish in his 30th major. “I thought the venue was great,” he just said. “The golf course was in perfect US Open shape. I’m sure looking forward to the next time it’s here.”
“One of the all-time great up-and-downs to win a major championship,” says Laura Davies of Bryson DeChambeau’s sand save at the 72nd hole. “But a bitter pill for Rory McIlroy,” she adds.
Here is the final leaderboard for the 124th US Open:
-6: DeChambeau (F)
-5: McIlroy (F)
-4: Finau (F), Cantlay (F)
-3: Pavon (F)
-2: Matsuyama (F)
-1: Henley (F), Schauffele (F)
Footage of a crestfallen Rory McIlroy watching the finale hits the screen. This will take some getting over. Not one missed short putt but two. And the last one will sting so much.
Bryson DeChambeau wins the 2024 US Open!
He holes the par putt and lets out a tremendous roar. Then another. And another. Arms aloft he then bellows down the camera as the sun begins to dip behind the clubhouse. “That’s Payne right there baby,” he says to the camera, holding a Payne Stewart replica hat.
DeChambeau chops his ball from the sand and it is superb. After all the wackiness of the last few minutes he may have won the US Open with touch of magic. 4 feet for triumph.
Dave Tindall messages with the words: “There but for the grace of God …” He’s referencing the words of Henry Longhurst when Doug Sanders missed a tiddler which McIlroy has just replicated.
DeChambeau faffed about for a while and then seemed to make a quick decision. He just bunted the ball forward and has clattered his second shot to a bunker some way short of the green. An absolutely bonkers 15 minutes.
However! DeChambeau’s tee shot has settled by a tree root and he is bent down with a large part of the tree weighing down on him. He’s preparing to hack it out. Nick Faldo is bewildered that both he and McIlroy took driver.
McIlroy settles over the par putt. Don’t think of 16, Rory. Oh Lordy. A wobbly shocker. He barely tickled it and it swung across the hole, catching only an edge. He needs help from DeChambeau now.
And, meanwhile, DeChambeau has also taken driver from the 18th tee – and found more trouble, this time to the left. Pure drama.
McIlroy has 94 feet from off the green. What a chip. A little skip as he gives the club back to Harry Diamond, his caddie. It’s still 3 feet 9 inches for the par though.
And now McIlroy. “I don’t like this,” winces Faldo. “I’m backing him,” says Riley. He duffs it. “It could have been worse, that’s all right,” says Riley. “It’s horrible,” says Faldo. Tremendous stuff. Vaguely reminiscent of the two old boys in The Muppet Show.
So, here we go. First up, DeChambeau on 17. For the birdie. And the lead. It’s short! Right line but a dribbler.
The next shot of both players will surely determine this championship. Faldo hates McIlroy’s lie up against grass in that scrub. “It’s okay! It’s okay!” cries Wayne ‘Rory Fan Club’ Riley.
A grimace from McIlroy as he walks from the 18th tee. To the bafflement of Nick Faldo in the TV booth and Wayne Riley on the course he has hit driver – and it’s one of his most errant blows of the day with that club. He’s in the scrub. Behind, DeChambeau is conducting the cries of “Bryson!” from the galleries.
DeChambeau at 17: “It’s a great shot isn’t it?” says Nick Faldo. “Another great opportunity.” 17 feet for birdie at the par-3.
Phew. McIlroy makes par. Missing two tiddlers on the trot would have been too appalling to contemplate. He walks to the 18th tee as DeChambeau prepares himself on the penultimate tee.
Wowzers. DeChambeau’s birdie putt at 16 shaves the hole. It looked like it would drop. An agonised knee dip from him. Seconds later McIlroy escapes the bunker. Wayne Riley, on course reporter, giddily fancied he’d hole it. His par putt is in the newly nasty 3 foot range.
Meanwhile ... a first major championship top 10 for Tony Finau in 13 starts. He made nine in 13 starts before that drought. He’s signed for a 67, -4 for the week and is currently tied 3rd with Cantlay.
DeChambeau likes his approach to 16. He lets go of the club and then bends down to watch it. Classic Bryson tells. He’s got a good hand. The ball finds the heart of the green. 22 feet for birdie coming up. Up ahead, McIlroy faces the 220 yard par-3 17th … and his tee shot finds sand.
Reader Michael Cruise writes: “DeChambeau looks very stiff under pressure.” He also looks a little fatigued, as he did at about this point last evening. His lucky break with the drive, and McIlroy’s error, ought to be a boost to the energy levels, however.
Oh dear. McIlroy misses a tiddler for par from 2 feet 6 inches. It lips out. “He’s been rock solid,” said Rich Beem, seconds before he wasn’t. They are tied at the top again!
Thanks Dave. McIlroy’s first putt at 16 runs close to the hole but doesn’t drop for birdie. Behind, DeChambeau unleashes another wayward drive but it hops, skips, jumps and skitters through the hard pan and scrub to the fairway.
And with that, I’ll hand you over to Matt Cooper to call this home. Fasten your seatbelts!
On 15, DeChambeau stalks his putt. He seems to have lost a bit of rhythm with the flatstick over the last couple of holes, his timing off. It’s again a tad clumsy here as he races his effort nearly four feet past. And, wow, his return putt catches the lip and it’s a bogey! Rory leads on his own again! At the same hole, Pavon makes birdie to give himself a glimmer still at -3, four back. Rory is safely on the green at 16. This is tense stuff!
-7: McIlroy (15)
-6: DeChambeau (15)
-5: Cantlay (15)
-3: Finau (17), Pavon (15)
-2: Matsuyama (16)
-1: Henley (F), Schauffele (F)
What can DeChambeau make of 16? Well, flying a towering iron to 25 feet left of the pin is what he can make of it. Chance for a birdie and at worst a par where Rory just made bogey. At the tough 540-yard par-4 16th, McIlroy thumps driver down the middle. “He couldn’t have walked it out there any better,” says Laura Davies on commentary. Cantlay also finds the fairway.
-7: McIlroy (15), DeChambeau (14)
-5: Cantlay (15)
-3: Finau (16)
-2: Matsuyama (16), Pavon (14)
-1: Henley (F), Schauffele (F)
It’s a good putt from McIlroy but that’s a bogey. Tee-shot to blame for taking four swishes there and suddenly the ball game is all tied up again at -7. Playing partner Cantlay is still in the hunt at -5, two back, and misses a decent opportunity for birdie from 16 feet which would have cut the gap to one.
McIlroy’s chip up the bank from an awkward lie behind the 15th green comes out a little hot and bounds way past the flag. It’s kind of not the worst outcome as going off the other side of the green was a possibility but the bottom line is that he has 30 feet for par. DeChambeau keeps the pressure on with a two-putt par at 14.
McIlroy ranks 1st for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee and 2nd for SG: Putting in this final round. But he’s only 50th for Approach and you sense it’s his iron play which holds the key from here. That tee-shot at 16 was a big mistake.
DeChambeau has hit just 4 of 11 fairways so far. Will it finally catch up with him? From the native area, his wedge finds the front of the 14th green but he’s a long way from the pin. Still, he’s on the putting surface which is more than can be said for Rory’s tee-shot at 15. That’s bounded through the back of the green, his ball settling near a clump of wispy grass. A very tough up and down from there. Meanwhile, Finau stays solo fourth on -3 with a 12-footer for par at 16 and gives it a fist pump.
Rory’s greenside chip at 14 sounds a tad clunky and pulls up short. But you fancy him to make those four-footers today and he does without fuss. A difficult hole out of the way. From downtown, Cantlay shuffles his feet, eventually pulls the tigger and ends up a similar distance away on the other side of the hole. A birdie for Pavon back at 13.
-8: McIlroy (14)
-7: DeChambeau (13)
-5: Cantlay (13)
-3: Finau (15)
-2: Matsuyama (15), Pavon (13)
-1: Henley (F), Schauffele (F), Conners (16)
Cantlay is still plodding and pottering away at -5 but he doesn’t seem to have the oomph to get involved with the top two. An approach way short of the flag at 14 rather sums it up. DeChambeau misses another fairway, this time back down the 14th, but he looks to have avoided the tufts and his ball is in view.
Temporarily knocked back by that two-shot swing, DeChambeau delivers a counter-punch with birdie at 13. His eagle putt looks way short but keeps trickling and trickling to end kick-in distance away. McIlroy pulls his approach left of the 14th green but it’s pin-high and that won’t be the most difficult of chips.