Bryson DeChambeau’s ecstasy was Rory McIlroy’s tragedy. The American won his second major this Sunday, his second US Open after the 2020 victory, in a heart-stopping finish on the Pinehurst track, in North Carolina. DeChambeau was crowned with -6 on the last hole after the collapse of the rival with whom he measured his strength during an exciting fourth day. The Northern Irishman (-5) let glory slip away when he caressed the trophy with his hands and was the leader of the classification with the final strokes remaining. On the verge of redemption, McIlroy signed three bogeys in the last four holes (15, 16 and 18) missing a couple of putts very short, barely one and a half meters, and not only saw the option of kissing the cup disappear, but also closing a drought in the big ones that has now lasted 10 years.
DeChambeau’s shout was also the celebration of LIV, the Saudi League that has one of its best cards in the North American, surely the one who has performed best in the majors since golf split in two. He is the second LIV man bingo in a Grand Slam stop, following Brooks Koepka’s success at last year’s PGA Championship. In times of civil war, any battle won is good, and even more so when the defeated is someone of the symbolism of McIlroy, one of the most powerful flags on the American circuit. It has been a year since both parties announced a peace agreement to bury their weapons, but months have passed and nothing has been signed, the stars are still divided into two sides and each major is the scene of a power struggle.
It was a beautiful contest against McIlroy, full of changes of direction. DeChambeau started on Sunday with three strokes of advantage, the Northern Irishman came back, the American reacted, and those last failures came as a result of the tension over what was at stake. There was a great deal of drama in those putts lost by McIlroy when it seemed that all that was left was to push her. DeChambeau had landed under a tree on the 18th hole when Rory went under. From that trap he emerged as best he could to a bunker and there he hit a great shot to tie the pair and his second US Open at 30 years old. As a prize, the highest check in the history of the majors: 4.3 million dollars.
Heaven must wait for McIlroy. He has never stopped being a great player and a charismatic leader, but at 35 years old his fifth great one has still not come. He was crowned in the US Open in 2011, in the PGA Championship in 2012, and again in the PGA and the British Open in 2014. Since then, the Northern Irishman has 21 rankings among the top 10 of a major, seven of them compressed in 2022 and 2023, when the closest, until now, it had been to greening its laurels. This year he was 22nd in the Augusta Masters (the only major he is missing), 12th in the PGA and second in this US Open. Patrick Cantlay and Toni Finau were third with -4.
Sergio García finished 12th with +1, his best ranking in a major since he won the green jacket at the Augusta Masters in 2017. Since then he had missed the cut in 15 Grand Slam events, without victories either in the Saudi League although he had touched them in several tiebreaks. The Castellón native has become the first European golfer to make the cut in 20 editions of the US Open. A prodigy of regularity.
David Puig experienced his worst day of the week with +8 in the round and +11 in the general, although with the mission accomplished of having passed the cut and therefore having qualified for the Paris Olympic Games, beating Jorge in the race Campillo.
In the queue, the world number one, Scottie Scheffler, said goodbye, unrecognizable in this US Open in which he never showed the overwhelming version that he has exhibited at this start of the season, with victory included in the Augusta Masters. The American finished four rounds over par (71, 74, 71 and 72 strokes on the par 70 at Pinehurst) to return home with +8. And this Sunday, like Friday in the second round, not a single birdie in the card.
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