Winning the 2024 U.S. Open, Bryson DeChambeau emerges as the people’s choice to usher golf into its next era

PINEHURST, NC – Bryson DeChambeau’s victory at the 2024 U.S. Open will go down as the championship’s all-time greatest moment and could even serve as a pivotal chapter in the game’s history. DeChambeau has proven himself to be a different golfer and a different person than he was when he last won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2020, making this victory feel less like a continuation and more like a starting point for a star who can break ground golf. in your next era.

The idea of ​​DeChambeau the YouTube star is often confused by an older generation of golf fans who don’t consume his content nor his target audience. What you saw among the more than 100,000 fans in attendance at Pinehurst No. 2 this week, though, was the target audience – a younger, more online, social media-savvy fan base that has boosted their favorite golfer in 72 difficult holes.

DeChambeau had fun hearing catchphrases from his YouTube channel shouted out by fans, and they also loved the opportunity to watch their favorite influencer in person. He wowed the crowd with gestures big and small — from fist bumps and push-ups to stopping and signing autographs for kids late into Saturday night as he held a 54-hole lead in the third major of the year.

DeChambeau, recently dubbed golf’s “greatest showman,” believes the entertainment factor has been underutilized in the sport and hopes to grow the game through his social media presence.

“These are direct conversations with people who are really involved with what I’m doing. It’s an incredible platform for me to show who I really am,” DeChambeau said of his YouTube presence. “Those fans out there really helped push me today. Even when things weren’t going well…the fans still chanted my name.”

Allowing people in served DeChambeau well, both in terms of popularity and mindset. No longer the misunderstood mad scientist – who was sometimes ridiculed for using a compass to determine the true location of the pegs unless it was eliminated from the game by law – DeChambeau overcame adversity and emerged on the other side more comfortable in his own skin. .

It got particularly dark for Bryson in 2022, a year that included the loss of his father and a broken hand that made him wonder if he would be able to be the same golfer again. That’s because his strategy of hitting the bar as far as possible and clearing from there wasn’t working like it used to. He credits a good team around him for changing his trajectory. Although it took him over a year to get his game back, he came out the other side with a better mindset about what it takes to win.

“I realized that there is much more to life than just golf. Treating others, yourself first, respecting yourself, is very important to be able to treat others with respect as well. learned,” DeChambeau explained when asked to describe how he grew during the dark times. “I’m not perfect; I’m human. Everyone is human. Certainly these difficult times have helped establish a new mindset about who I am, what is expected, what I can do and what I want to do in my life.”

What DeChambeau wants to do now is entertain; What he doesn’t want to do is dwell on complaints from previous chapters of his professional career. He said he is willing to leave the past in the past when it comes to hurt feelings about his departure for LIV Golf in the hope that a divided sport can be brought closer.

“All I want to do is entertain and give my best to the game of golf, perform and provide amazing entertainment for the fans. At least from what I can tell, this is what the fans want, and they deserve it,” he said. .

The big twist in DeChambeau’s emergence as a golf star in the YouTube era is that this entertainment-focused approach is actually a throwback to when the sport’s calendar was filled with more entertaining displays and the courses included characters who were beloved, not criticized, for their oversized personalities.

A constant issue – not just in golf, but in all sports – is that as the money factor has increased, athletes have become more sanitized. They have teams of agents, managers and public relations consultants working tirelessly to control the narratives and avoid controversy at all costs.

DeChambeau has the same army of support staff as any other golf star, but they’ve empowered him to indulge his social media urges.

At his core, he may not be so much a mad scientist villain as a fun-loving kid who can’t stop exploring the world of a game he loves. All week, the passion for DeChambeau at Pinehurst No. 2 has come from a notably younger demographic than anyone else in the area. And while the idea of ​​a big kid bouncing around on one of golf’s most iconic courses might be a turn-off for another generation, Bryson brought out a true passion for golf from the exact audience the sport needs to tap into to thrive in the world. future.

Being a big kid and leaning on those creative impulses that so often fade with age helped DeChambeau win an all-time duel with Rory McIlroy at Pinehurst No.

“When I was a kid, I used to hit golf balls in the worst situations off the course and I learned how to get out of the worst situations to see what I could do,” DeChambeau said. “I had a unique childhood experience in golf, working on really quirky and strange things, and also working hard on the mechanics, trying to be as mechanical as possible. I feel like that combination allows, as it showed a lot in what I did today, that in certain situations where I have no control over what’s going to happen, you just need to figure out how to do it and get your creativity sparked.”

DeChambeau needed that creativity when his drive at No. 18 landed next to a root nestled under a magnolia tree. As he pondered how to escape the precarious situation, he heard groans coming from the stands that indicated McIlroy had missed his par shot. DeChambeau knew a pair would win the US Open and now it was time to get creative.

After reaching the bunker near the green, DeChambeau was empowered by caddy Gregory Bodine with a simple message: Just go up and down; You’ve hit crazier shots from 50 meters from a bunker before. Creativity was awakened, Bryson called for a 55-degree wedge and made a shot that will go down in US Open history.

At the end of the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst, Payne Stewart’s presence was very much alive – not just because his silhouette was at the 18th green flag. Stewart also needed to get up and down for par during his iconic victory in 1999, in which he dueled with another all-time great, Phil Mickelson.

As DeChambeau stood on the podium after the round, a Payne-inspired cap sat atop the trophy. DeChambeau, who wore that cap for a long time and even attended SMU because he idolized Stewart, has now added an equally impressive chapter to US Open history at Pinehurst No. 2, a course that will host this event again in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047 .

As the golf world prepares for future US Opens, it will relive Stewart’s highs and lows, as well as DeChambeau’s efforts now, remembering two great victories that came 25 years apart, moving entirely different generations. And as those dates come and go, the YouTube generation will tell their kids what it was like to see Bryson DeChambeau, an all-time entertainer and golf talent, perform right in front of them on the game’s biggest stage.