Bryson DeChambeau loses key asset at U.S. Open. But still finds his way

PINEHURST, N.C. — At some point between exiting his car at Pinehurst on Thursday morning and hitting his first tee ball in the opening round of the 124th U.S. Open, Bryson DeChambeau came to the unsettling realization that he had misplaced one of his most essential tools: his yardage book.

“Must have fallen out when I got out,” he would say later. “First time I’ve done that in a long time.”

The situation could have been dire — especially for a player who values data more than he does oxygen — but fortunately for DeChambeau, his trusty caddie, Greg Bodine (“G-Bo”), had a back-up. Also fortunate: someone found the book and eventually it made its way back to DeChambeau’s back pocket.

The contents of the pamphlet?

“Everything,” he said, smiling. “All my secrets.”

If the MIA scare unnerved DeChambeau, it didn’t show on the most difficult setup he has faced this year. On a warm day on the piney, terrorizing sandscape they call No. 2, DeChambeau picked up where he had left off at the PGA Championship (runner-up) and, a month before that, the Masters (T6), with a nifty, four-birdie 67 that has him just two back of co-leaders Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy.

DeChambeau did just about everything right on a course that doesn’t suffer loose shots or poor decision-making. He hit 12 of 14 fairways (with an average poke of 336 yards); hit 15 greens; and his short game was on point, helping him pick up 2.23 strokes on the field around the greens. If anything hurt at round’s end, it was DeChambeau’s head.  

“I would say from a mental exhaustion perspective, this was probably the most difficult that I’ve had in a long, long, long time,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I mentally exerted myself that hard to focus on hitting fatter parts of the green instead of going for flags.”

Pinehurst No. 2 is no place for bombing and gouging, the strategy DeChambeau executed with abandon when he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2020. Donald Ross’ masterwork demands that players hit fairways because it demands that they hit greens, and hitting those greens in the right spots might be the biggest demand of all. If you’ve observed DeChambeau only from afar, this course might not have appeared a suitable match for his beefy game. But DeChambeau will tell you his 3D-printed irons aren’t the only change he has made to his game.

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“I just feel like I’m a little more strategic more often than not,” he said earlier in the week. “I’m not such a risk taker. I do take risks. I love taking risks. But there are times for it. I feel like as time has gone on, I realize when that time is and when essentially not to go for it, when it doesn’t make any sense.”

Take the short par-4 3rd, where on Thursday, DeChambeau laid up with a mid-iron, then from 139 yards stuffed his approach to 10 feet from where he poured in his birdie try.

“Yeah, it stinks hitting a 6-iron off the tee compared to a driver,” he said Tuesday. “But sometimes you’ve got to do it and you’ve got to make the right decision for shooting the lowest score out here.

“If I get my irons in a place where I’m hitting it in the middle of the greens and just playing boring golf, that’s the goal for me this week is try to play as boring a golf as possible.”

DeChambeau may have added a dash of Nick Faldo to his game but make no mistake, Bryson still gonna Bryson. After his round, he repaired to the range to grind and tinker, tinker and grind. Upon his return home Thursday evening, he said he had plans to “eat a lot.” Some carbs here, some protein there. And, yes, he will also carve out time for wellness.    

“I do a lot of breathing techniques,” he said. “It’s almost like second nature now. Make sure my brain is in a good spot, get some good treatment, and really focus on the positives of the day.”

Of those, there were plenty.