2024 U.S. Open takeaways: Bryson DeChambeau has become endearing, crushing blows to Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau

PINEHURST, NC – Bryson DeChambeau Performance after the 2024 US Open may have been even better than his performance during the four days of competition. In no particular order, the newly crowned two-time champion signed autographs at sunset for children and adults, Paraded the trophy around Pinehurst so everyone on the property could experience what it was like to play it, and he even found a camera and a willing partner in Golf Channel’s Johnson Wagner, whom he helped recreate the 55 yard bunker shot which earned Bryson his second national championship.

DeChambeau said earlier this week that he’s always wanted to connect with fans, but hasn’t always expressed it in the right way. Past efforts have sometimes been different from what was intended. DeChambeau seems honest and forthright in sharing this because he understands what it means to be shunned, considered an outcast.

It doesn’t take much watching and listening to the player formerly known as “The Greatest Golfer” to realize that he was likely polarizing as a teenager as an elite golf talent in his amateur days. Heck, go back to three years ago when PGA Tour crowds jeered and taunted him at every event.

Strangely, this only encouraged his desire to bond with them.

So when Bryson is running around letting fans touch the trophy and stopping his golf cart to give lessons at a post-game show hours after winning the US Open, it can generate eye rolls and laughter from even the most grumpy among us. But these actions are being analyzed through the lens of other players. Pick any star: if Tony Finau or Xander Schauffele or Jon Rahm acted like DeChambeau, they he would be be considered insincere and inauthentic.

When Bryson does this, it’s perhaps still ridiculous and sometimes bordering on the absurd… but it’s also endearing.

This gets to something that showed up in those (literal) victory laps at Pinehurst. DeChambeau, at his core, seems like a sweet, kind-hearted guy. He obviously wants to be loved, but he also wants others feel loved. He seeks a mutual relationship. The way his efforts unfold can seem silly or even insincere at times, but he’s much more thoughtful than most of his peers offer. It’s beyond what most others could say.

Sometimes it’s like moving heaven and earth to get a golfer to recognize the people who paid to see him. Bryson was raising fans at every corner of the property, going up and down – just as they were – with each shot. They loved it he They cared because it meant their care had meaning.

Bryson DeChambeau, for all that can be said about his crazy ideas and stellar career, seems to actually consider a world beyond his own. That doesn’t mean he isn’t still a jerk and a try-hard at times, but he deserves respect for overcoming any concerns he had about others’ perception of his theatrics and his obvious connection to those among whom he has now become beloved.

A few more thoughts on the 2024 US Open…

This overwhelming feeling

I wrote about Rory McIlroy’s despair Sunday night, and Shane Ryan I did it too – even better than me. It’s worth revisiting on Monday, because it feels even heavier in retrospect. How many chances does someone have of winning a major? And now, how many more will come for McIlroy, now 35? If you squint, Rory could have won a major in each of the last three years: the 2022 Open at St. Andrews and now the 2023 Open It is 2024 US Opening. He has four strokes in seven majors and is in the same conversation as Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer.

This is devastating, and the part that seems inevitable is how few of these opportunities exist. I think about this a lot with him and the Masters. Every year he tries and every year he fails. It must be so devastating to consider the passage of time that occurs between chances. It’s not that, as there will be another big swing in just under a month, but it’s a version of that because Rory probably only has about 25-30 big swings left in his true prime. Maybe not so many.

After each one, the window gets smaller. This is true for everyone, but it seems more important when you’re 35 than when you’re 25 and still have a whole career ahead of you.

There is a lot of work in each of these weeks, and there are so few moments when you have an important championship within your reach. It was equally shocking and torturous to see him kick that one out.

The fundamental hole

Everyone will remember the two missed putts at the end of his round, but the key hole for McIlroy was number 5. He made bogey and probably should have made a putt from 5 feet (or less) for birdie. He could have used those two doses later that day.

Here’s your approach. If it’s, what, 2 meters higher – maybe a little more – he’s putting in for eagle and probably making birdie. Instead, the ball rolls into the waste area and he is scrambling for bogey. Legacies are all about feet and inches, and while this wasn’t necessarily a bad opportunity, I’m sure he’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

O other center hole

On Saturday, Tony Finau tripled the short par-4 13th. So did Ludvig Åberg. If Finau makes par, his score will be 7 under. Now, does he get to 7 under if he’s really gunning for the last few holes? I do not know about that. But that right pin on Saturday at No. 13 was thrown into an island and dashed the hopes of two prominent candidates.

First, what a hole! Secondly, what a recovery from Finau! I don’t know if he’ll ever get his major championship, but he came back to 4 under and finished T3, tied for the best of his career. It had already been three years since his last top 10 at a major, so this one should give him some confidence heading into next month’s Open Championship.

The Pinehurst route is a great championship

I won’t be the first or last to make this point, but some of the drama this weekend can be attributed to the leaders always being in each other’s line of sight. Every corner of Pinehurst is a vantage point from which players can see who is in front and who is behind. The one that sticks with me is DeChambeau chasing his tee shot on No. 17, while McIlroy, who had just holed out two of three holes, watched his delight as he saw the ball land 20 feet from the cup, just before he had to step up and hit his last shot of the tournament.

This is one of about a dozen examples in the last nine of this occurrence. Even if you’re not a score watcher as a player, the entire development of this tournament was impossible to ignore.

Bryson is the best major player of 2024

An underrated part of DeChambeau’s game is how complete he has become. The first three majors of 2024 have been played on very different golf courses, but he has been incredible at all three and is currently the leader in this year’s overall aggregate leaderboard. Here are all 12 golfers who are currently under par (to qualify, you need to make the cut in all three majors).

First to three majors?

The following six golfers now have two major championships: DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson.

Apart from the DJ, everyone is relatively the same age. It’s a group that could soon include names like Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama or Matt Fitzpatrick. Only time will tell, but it will be fascinating to see who from the top group is first at three and whether anyone gets McIlroy at four, Brooks Koepka at five or even Phil Mickelson at six.

As the post-Tiger Woods era begins to take hold, this group (you can include Jordan Spieth with three majors) has established itself as, at least for now, a unit that has achieved far more than its peers. Who among them finished winning the majors? Who is not? Who can double their total? Or even triple? Major legacies are endlessly fascinating to discuss, and DeChambeau leveled that playing field with his win at Pinehurst No. 2.