NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – This Bryson DeChambeau, he’s just…different. Right? We have known this for years. We’ve celebrated, we’ve stomped all over it, we’ve come back for more, which grabs us all and leads to late Friday afternoons, dinner calls, round robin and Bryson playing from 10 at home with no chance of making the cut. And yet, there he was, Bryson as a whole.
Example: In your life, have you ever seen a golfer, professional or amateur, pick something out of his ear with a very long pick? Well, there was Bryson, doing just that, as a Type Q. It’s unlikely that his playing partners, Rickie Fowler and Ludvig Aberg, would have noted this act of aural care. Golfers are in their own world. we just are.
On the par-4 15th, Bryson made what we 90-shooters call a double sand. It led him to the right trap. His second shot found a home on a trap left of the green. His bunker shot was indifferent. He held a mini-bomb for a 4. Does a two-time US Open winner with a billion (or whatever that is) YouTube followers know the term? You ask yourself.
Note to self: Ask Bryson about 15.
It’s amazing how it can go, if you’re Arnold Palmer in his prime, if you’re Tiger Woods in his prime, if you’re Bryson DeChambeau in his prime. You show up at a prime location on Thursday morning and the main thing you’re thinking about is another notch on your belt. Another Grand Slam victory linked to your name forever. Palmer died at seven. Woods nearly died at 15and it does not seem likely that he will win another. DeChambeau there are those two US Opens. Will there be other big wins in his life? We don’t know; we can’t know. Nobody knows.
Meanwhile, he’s golf’s $500 million (or something like that) free agent. It can’t be easy, being a professional golfer with a unique swing, a reinvented personality and such a big number attached to a particularly wide back.
At the Masters, DeChambeau shot a triple-par 7-under-18 and missed the cut by two. And yet he signed autographs on his way to the scorer’s room. At the PGA Championship, here on Aronimink’s best ever links, he shot 76-71 for seven under. The cut was four. Among a thousand other things, Bryson DeChambeau is a stock price, and his stock is going up and down all the time.
“I don’t think you guys understand, I really need to get to scoring,” DeChambeau told the kids as he signed and signed and signed on his way to score. No, they probably didn’t understand. But they definitely knew they had secured the most meaningful autograph in golf today. They have seen Bryson tries to break 50. They have seen him hitting balls over his house. They have seen the things that matter. On Friday, some of them might have seen a car in 12 reaching a crossing where no one expected to reach it, 330 up a hill.
The sleeves of the sweater went up, above the elbow. They went down. They went up. They went down. Ludwig ate a sandwich. Ludvig ate a banana. Rickie Fowler ignored a thousand pleas of “RICKIE-RICKIE-RICKIE.” Bryson hit his fairway five times, green to tee, green to tee, green to tee.
DeChambeau came out of the PGA Championship, but not after
Michael Bamberger
His last moves are all his own, up and down, up and down. They’re north and south, the lat muscles in his upper back, through his shirt and sweatshirt, bulging the entire time.
THANK BAM!
No one in golf hits it that hard. Nobody makes that sound. Bryson DeChambeau is 32 years old. You can do this when you are 32 years old and built like a brick house.
He was wearing his team hat. He is a Crusher. He is the captain of his LIV team, the Crushers, at least until the end of the 2026 season. Then all bets are off. Brooks Koepka was third behind DeChambeau. Brooks was a Smasher, but he left LIV for more popular pastures.
Yeah, Bryson, are you looking to play tomorrow?
Philadelphia fans are special. we just are.
Bryson’s two sons were waiting for him near the 18th green. You ask if you can take Bryson for half a minute. You have a question in mind:
No, Bryson: do you know what a double sand is?
Maybe so – he grew up playing public golf, the son of a golf pro – but maybe not.
It won’t happensays a boy.
Not todaysays the other.
They both shake their heads no, just in case you didn’t know no means no.
Bryson signs for the kids, he signs the scorecard, he walks past a small crowd of reporters waiting for crumbs from the $500 million (or whatever) golf man.
“I appreciate you guys, I appreciate you guys,” Bryson said as he marched out, followed by his teammates. He made the praying hands sign. It was like seeing a real life emoji.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@golf.com.
;)
