The 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 went right down to the wire. The tournament was not decided until Bryson DeChambeau, who was in the final pairing, stood over his par putt with the championship on the line. He buried it, taking advantage of a meltdown from Rory McIlroy to close out the tournament.
Bryson DeChambeau was in the mix from the very beginning, firing off a 3-under 67 to start things off. The conditions at Pinehurst No. 2 only got more challenging, as DeChambeau used his length off the tee to make up for a colorful scorecard that had nine bogeys and one double bogey.
On Hole 18 of the final round, he certainly didn’t make things easy. An errant drive resulted in him taking his second shot from the rough under a tree. His punch out rolled into a greenside bunker. Given how challenging the greens had been this week, nothing was guaranteed as he attempted a sand save.
With ice in his veins, Bryson DeChambeau had an incredible out, setting up a short par putt to win the tournament. “I was going to try and birdie the hole on 18, obviously, if I hit a good drive, but pulled it,” DeChambeau said. “But I knew where Rory was. 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.'”
He was in a position to take home his second major, and second U.S. Open championship, only because of unprecedented putting from Rory McIlroy. As he detailed in the quote, McIlroy had a chance to keep even with DeChambeau but missed a short putt.
Entering the final round on Sunday, Rory McIlroy had made 496 consecutive putts that were within three feet of the hole. On 16, he missed a putt that was 2’6” and on 18, he missed a 3’9” putt to end up finishing second and losing by one stroke.
“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.”
Three out of the last four holes of the tournament were bogeyed by Rory McIlroy, who was in the driver’s seat heading down the home stretch. This one is going to sting for a while, as his 10-year major drought looked like it was going to come to an end.
Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Despite falling behind on the leaderboard, Bryson DeChambeau kept focused and doing what he could to put game pressure on Rory McIlroy. It ended up working, as he came away victorious, taking home the $4.3 million purse.
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