PINEHURST, N.C. — Greg Bodine, minutes before one of the biggest days of his boss’ life, walked up to one of the roadblocks. What would he say? Maybe plant a seed of doubt? Maybe engage in gamesmanship?
Nah, early Saturday afternoon, ahead of the U.S. Open’s third round, Bodine just wanted to joke with Tony Finau on PInehurst’s driving range.
They once worked together. Finau laughed, and Bodine was on his way. That’s Bodine. Light. Goes by G-Bo. Played college golf. Co-founded an indoor golf facility.
Now caddies for Bryson DeChambeau, who last May said he needed light.
Who Sunday, from a greenside bunker on 18 during the final round, needed inspiration. A stroke before that, DeChambeau had been stymied. He was up a shot over Rory McIlroy, who had missed a short par putt ahead of him. But, after going left off the tee, DeChambeau’s ball was beside a root and atop dirt, and all he could manage was a hacked-at dribbler to the sand.
It sat a few paces from the front of the bunker, about 50 yards to the hole. There was trouble. It could ricochet back. It could fall off the green. DeChambeau said the lie was “one of the worst places I could have been.” Afterward, on Golf Channel, he admitted that he could get up-and-down only about four times out of 100. He talked with Bodine.
And Bodine said these 13 words, according to his boss: “You got this shot. I’ve seen way harder shots pulled off from you.”
Seconds later, with a 55-degree wedge, DeChambeau lofted his ball up. It fell about 15 feet from the cup. It finished about 4 feet away.
“Shot of my life,” DeChambeau said.
A putt later, he won the U.S. Open for a second time. DeChambeau and Bodine hugged, 13 months after the player said he was lost.
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He’d gone through a couple bag men. He’d lost some form. He connected with Bodine. They clicked. Twice last year, they won LIV Golf tournaments. This year, in the majors, DeChambeau has finished T6 at the Masters and runner-up at the PGA Championship.
“Oh, man, yeah, I was struggling,” DeChambeau said in his winner’s press conference. “I didn’t know where my game was. I had no idea what was going on. Greg was in a place where he was starting a business. He was in a place where he didn’t know what was going to go on. Some family stuff happened. It was just a weird moment for him and for me. I guess it was fate. The two lives that were in some despair got brought together to make each other better. I feel like that’s what’s happened. He gave me a chance.
“I said, I don’t know what I’m going to give you. I don’t know what game I have. You may hate what I have, and I might not like the way you caddie. He’s very mellow, somebody that I’ve never — I’ve had a lot of A-type personalities. They’ve worked great; I’ve done very well. But he’s been a special human being for me in my life, getting me to realize what life is about. It’s not just all about golf. He works hard. He’s a diligent worker. Brings the best out of me.”
Unsurprisingly, their relationship is light, DeChambeau said.
“Sometimes I wish he’d speak up more,” he said. “Sometimes I wish he’d speak less. Does he have veto power? No. I mean, we just have a conversation about what’s the best decision for both of us. ‘You don’t have veto power.’ [Here, he laughed.] But we have a pure conversation about what’s going to be the best situation. We make the decision together.
“Whatever the result is, sometimes I’m like, Dang it, G-Bo, why didn’t we think of this? And it’s not his fault; it’s our fault together. When we win together, we win together. If we fail together, we fail together. That’s the mindset I take into it. It’s not a binary thing. It’s a connected, work-through-it-together sort of thing.”
