U.S. Open 2024: Bryson DeChambeau anything but boring down stretch as he takes control

PINEHURST, N.C. – As Bryson DeChambeau ascended onto the 13th green Saturday evening at Pinehurst No. 2, he was greeted with rousing applause and illuminated by the setting sun.

Some call this time golden hour.

For DeChambeau, it probably felt like an hour.

DeChambeau had just taken on the flag from a fairway bunker, sticking his 149-yard approach to 6 feet, and was on the verge of grabbing total control of this 124th U.S. Open. Meanwhile, DeChambeau’s playing competitor, Ludvig Åberg, was making a mess of the short par 4, tugging his drive into the left waste area, coming up short of the green with his approach and sending each of his next two shots through the green.

As Åberg sized up shot after shot, eventually carding triple bogey, DeChambeau waited.

And waited.

And waited.

“It was one of the most difficult putts I have had, so for me it is just looking at it, being focused, trying to stay focused for 10 minutes,” DeChambeau said. “Look, for the most part I was just trying to walk around and keep my body moving. … I was just kind of in my own world.”

DeChambeau’s birdie roll just slid past the cup.

What ensued after that was a wild hour-plus that featured a couple fist-pumping birdies, some miraculous recoveries and a sloppy double bogey that ultimately kept the field within reach of the 2020 U.S. Open champion.

DeChambeau has repeated the line all week: “Trying to have boring golf. Middle of the greens never move.”

That fact that DeChambeau was just a little off with his ball-striking played to his favor more often than not. He wasn’t trying to flag approaches at Nos. 13 and 14. His shot into the 13th green was pushed before drawing back to the hole. On the next hole, DeChambeau drew a great lie in the pine straw right of the fairway; his 134-yard wedge shot didn’t draw like DeChambeau wanted, and the wind pushed it back at the pin, the ball ending up 9 feet away.

“That’s kind of what you’re doing out here, is you’re trying to play conservative golf that gives you the opportunity to hit it close in some scenarios,” said DeChambeau, who this time rolled in the birdie putt to push himself to 8 under.

When his ball disappeared into the cup, DeChambeau delivered a fist pump amid more roars and even some “U.S.A, U.S.A., U.S.A.!” chants.

“It just gives me a spike in my adrenaline and allows me to focus more on delivering for the fans and for myself and for my family,” DeChambeau said. “It just inspires me.”

He needed it coming in, as he missed each of his next two greens. He got up and down at No. 15, but his approach at the par-4 16th came up 20 yards short of the hole and settled down off the front-left of the green. Chipping to a right hole, DeChambeau missed his mark by just a couple feet, and his ball rolled back off the front of the green.

He’d eventually make double bogey, his first of the championship – that’s significant, too, considering each of the previous three U.S. Open champions at Pinehurst never carded worse than bogey en route to victory.

If anyone can bash that trend, it’s Bryson.

Still aiming at the fat part of the green at the 180-yard, par-3 17th hole, DeChambeau slightly pushed his tee shot, sending it on an ultra-aggressive line right at the flag. He then rolled home the 12-footer for his sixth birdie of the round.

When told of that number after his 3-under 67, DeChambeau shook his head and exhaled at the surprising feat before saying, “Amazing.”

No one else within six shots heading into Sunday carded more than four birdies.

“He was playing well all day,” Åberg, who backed up with a 73, said of DeChambeau. “He was getting the ball up and down from the bunkers, hitting the shots very well. That’s nothing I can do anything about. Obviously, what happened to me on 13 is not ideal. It doesn’t necessarily change the way that you try to approach this golf course. I think there’s only a certain way you can play it. If you don’t play that way, you’re going to get punished. That’s what I did.”

Pinehurst No. 2 has seen both narrow victories (Payne Stewart by a shot in 1999; Michael Campbell by two in 2005) and Martin Kaymer’s five-shot rout in 2014. With Collin Morikawa firing a 66 on Saturday, a weekend round capable of catching DeChambeau appears out there. DeChambeau sits at 7 under, three strokes clear of Matthieu Pavon, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay.

Cantlay, who spoke in the interview room just before DeChambeau, stressed that he’d continue to manage his way around the difficult Donald Ross gem as he goes out in Sunday’s penultimate group alongside McIlroy, just ahead of DeChambeau and Pavon.

“It takes patience and discipline,” Cantlay said. “I’ve done a good job of that this week trying not to fire at too many flagsticks, especially when I don’t have a wedge in my hands … and I’m going to take that game plan into tomorrow.”

On tap for Sunday: More boring golf that, if Saturday evening proved anything, could be – and probably will be – anything but.