adminLOS ANGELES. — Whether Bryson DeChambeau’s US Open golf victory will revolutionise golf or just give a few people a new edge, it had other players talking after Sunday’s final round at Winged Foot.
Ignoring fears of deep rough in favour of pure distance, DeChambeau fired a three-under-par 67 to win his first major title by six strokes, jumping from ninth to fifth in world rankings.
“Revolutionise? Maybe he’s just exposing our game,” American Xander Schauffele said. “If he keeps hitting it further and further, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to win many more US Opens.”
DeChambeau’s scientific approach, now including a bulked-up body bolstered by protein shakes and exercise over a three-month coronavirus layoff, has proven a winning formula: drive long, wedge from the rough, sink your putts.
“I don’t really know what to say because that’s just the complete opposite of what you think a US Open champion does,” said four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, who shared eighth after a closing 75 left him 12 adrift.
“He has 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 tournament being played.
“It’s kind of hard to really wrap my head around it.”
DeChambeau hit only 23 fairways for the week but also became the first player since 1955 to win with the only sub-par score in the last round. He humbled a course that crushed foes.
“He’s sort of trending in the new direction of golf,” Schauffele said. “Everyone talked about hitting fairways”. — AFP.
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