Pinehurst is the home of American golf and Bryson DeChambeau made it clear this Saturday that he will defend it with all his might from the hordes of Europeans trying to rob the 124th US Open. By air, sea and land. A plea that is almost as historic as Winston Churchill’s “We will fight on the beaches, we will fight in the fields and streets, we will fight in the hills, we will never surrender”. In the third round he laughed in the face of the USGA, which has shut off the water supply just in time to turn the weekend at North Carolina’s No. 2 macro-resort into a torture theme park. If 15 golfers finish under par on Thursday, the course can only tolerate eight in the red after 54 holes.
In fact, since Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy left the bar at -5 on Thursday, with the organizers giving the quarters, the farthest he went was -6, until Bryson broke it on the third day, breaking -3 for -7 on the majestic. No one on this field had dropped below 70 in the first three days. “USA, USA,” the public shouted, transformed into the final containment bulwark against the onslaught from the Old Continent, powered by three very different personalities: Captain General Rory McIlroy, seeking his fifth major and first since 2014, and accompanied by Swedish talent Ludwig Aberg, the leader many times in his first US Open, and Alienation Frenchman Mathieu Pavon, the first player from his country to win the PGA in 117 years, son of the former Betis midfielder.
DeChambeau’s contemporary interaction with his audience is curious. How he went from being the ‘oddball’, a misunderstood character who made a lot of headlines for his victories and his curious method, to becoming one of the favorites when the PGA changed for LIV. The mix of his new, more zen approach to life, a YouTube channel in which he reveals his more personal side that caused a sensation, and some viral gestures with some children in recent tournaments. The games support that dynamic. He finished sixth at the Masters and second at the PGA. None of the LIV signees except Koepka are performing as well as they do among the big signees. There they are, without mercy, out of contention at the Masters and out of the cut at the PGA, Last minute drop In this US Open. Or Dustin Johnson (+9), Phil Mickelson (+15), Cam Smith (+5), went unnoticed at Pinehurst, like the world number one, Scottie Scheffler, who gave +1 against +6, fighting himself for another day.
This Saturday he started with a bogey and from there he played some more, stopping balls on greens that rejected him like a celiac with gluten. With five birdies without a mistake between 5 and 14 he topped the table and at times it seemed that he was going to take the emotions away on Sunday.but the double bogey arrived, an almost inevitable process in these conditions, on the 16th he corrected it and on the 18th he scored a brilliant par from outside the fairway. “It was a great day, I had a great time,” he declared at the end with an almost childlike simplicity, a passion so pure that it is charming. There is still hope for McIlroy, who had left himself many options in the last section, having bogeyed on 15 and 17. A great round, three birdies and a bogey on the last 14, had spoiled him, but his -1 to -4 left him three blows behind at the US Open Sunday. There have been worse things. Pavon in his last surprise on the course is one of them, -1 to -4 which puts him very close to the first French great since Arnaud Massy won the British Open in 1907. Aberg, who was very strong for a round and a half, shot himself in the foot with a triple bogey on 13 and closed at +3 to -2. This is raw.
Sergio, out of bounds
Out of range, needing a miracle to result, the Spaniard is Sergio GarciaThree birdies and four bogeys, +1 for +1 in a round affected by a disastrous start, three bogeys in the first four segments. He was able to straighten it out with three birdies and a bogey from then on, but he was one stroke short, something that would have left him within four or five shots, a fair distance. A top-10, very close, would be a worthy finish to what is, after three rounds, his best major since the Masters he won in 2017.
Third (-1 for +3) for the Catalan David Puig, who played free from the stress of the Olympic struggle, having already obtained the ticket to Paris after passing the cut, and threw -1 for +3 with little idea of what could have been. The young man from La Garriga came out on fire, making three birdies in five holes, before a disastrous passage between the greens of 6, 7 and 8. He made three bogeys. He reacted with nine seconds to spare, making the cut again on the 13th and 15th, leaving a bitter bogey on the 16th Chiefsurpassing Los Angeles’ 39th place finish the previous year, This is no small task for this Sunday. For DeChambeau it would be avoiding a second consecutive European champion at Pinehurst, ten years after Martin Kaymer’s victory.
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