DeChambeau demolishes Bard to win U.S. Amateur

Writing from Olympia Fields, Illinois

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Like his hero Ben Hogan did decades ago, Bryson DeChambeau tests his golf balls for imperfections in Epsom salts before committing them to tournament play.

About two-thirds pass muster. The rest go into the practice pile.

Unlike Hogan, DeChambeau is chatty and charming, willing to explain at length the quirky nature of his golf game, which includes irons of similar length and weight and an involved putting alignment that works more often than not.

Everything worked nearly to perfection on Sunday at Olympia Fields Country Club, where DeChambeau rallied from a two-hole deficit to score a dominating 7 and 6 victory over Derek Bard to win the 115th United States Amateur, who knew exactly what hit him.

“I didn’t make anything and he made all the putts he had to,” Bard said.

That was especially true on the opening nine in the afternoon. After DeChambeau’s detour to the left, nearly onto the railroad tracks leading downtown. Somehow, his TaylorMade ball – perfectly balanced – was found after he snap-hooked the first drive of his afternoon round. He scrambled to a bogey, Bard winning the hole with a par to move to 1 down.

Bard, the Virginia senior from New Hartford, N.Y., had been 3 down after 17 holes, but won the 18th with a bogey when DeChambeau played the hole even more adventurously, leading to a double.

Momentum seemed to be draining away from the world’s seventh-ranked amateur, the NCAA individual champion, and the favorite at daybreak.

Tell that to DeChambeau.

“Put the petal to the medal,” he told himself. “Hit shots close and let’s play Bryson golf. That’s what I did.”

Some day, it will be Bryson Golf, complete with trademark symbol. On Sunday, on a North Course that took nearly a half-inch of rain during a pair of morning downpours, one with lightning that stopped play for 53 minutes, Bryson golf meant a barrage of birdies, same as the rest of the week.

He birdied the second, third and fourth holes in the afternoon. His approach on the third was so close – gimme range – Bard conceded the putt after missing his par putt. The rout was on.

DeChambeau would win seven holes in a nine-hole stretch on what’s usually Olympia’s treacherous back nine to guarantee possession of the Havemeyer Trophy for the next year.

And, thanks to his annexing the NCAA individual championship in June, the rarely-scored double of both in a calendar year. Only Jack Nicklaus (1961), Phil Mickelson (1990), Tiger Woods (1996) and Ryan Moore (2004) had done so previously. Three of those four have glittering professional records, and Moore hasn’t done badly himself.

“I can’t believe what I just did,” DeChambeau said. “I’m in golf history. I don’t understand it yet. It’s an honor to be in that field.”

DeChambeau’s 20-under reading for the North Course on match play was outstanding. The course, while it never played longer than 7,110 yards in match play, had thicker rough than for the 2003 U.S. Open, and thanks to early-week rains, it was thick. And with the greens running nearly 13 feet on the Stimpmeter – 12 feet 11 inches, to be precise – the rest of the field had difficult coping with it. DeChambeau, an occasional miscue aside, thrived on the slick surfaces.

He had opened the final with birdies on the first two holes, a pair of punches that Bard weathered and answered with birdies of his own on the fifth and sixth holes.

Bard would not birdie again. DeChambeau would make seven more and edge the cup several other times.

The killer stroke was DeChambeau’s 20-foot par-saving putt on the 25th hole, the seventh in the afternoon, and usually the 16th for member play. He and Bard were bunkered off the tee, and after Bard’s bunker shot to 18 inches led to a conceded pat, DeChambeau went through his unique lining up of the putt. Center cut to remain 5 up, and right into Bard’s heart.

“That had to hurt him a little bit,” DeChambeau said. “He was thinking he was going to win the hole, I’m sure, but knocking that putt in to halve and win the next few was huge. I could just see it in him. He was deflated and didn’t have the same step he had before.”

DeChambeau had sunk a 6-footer for birdie after what he called “an incredible par” by Bard on the par-5 sixth, and followed the 20-foot halve on the seventh with a 15-foot birdie on the eighth.

“I just made everything,” DeChambeau said.

He has the trophy to prove it.

American Walker Cup team filled out

Two mid-amateurs and three collegians filled out the U.S. Walker Cup squad on Sunday afternoon. The biggest local name was Jordan Niebrugge of Mequon, Wis., the 22-year-old stalwart. He’s joined by Scott Harvey (Greensboro, N.C.), Mike McCoy (Des Moines, Iowa), Denny McCarthy (Rockville, Md.), and Robby Shelton (Wilmer, Ala.), who was 4-0 at the Palmer Cup and medalist in the Western Amateur, both played at Rich Harvest Farms.

They join DeChambeau, Beau Hossler, Lee McCoy, Maverick McNealy and Hunter Stewart for the September soiree at Royal Lythan & St. Annes.

Around Olympia Fields

The morning gallery was sparse, until after the storm passed. Then perhaps 600 people, a large crowd for amateur golf in this era, followed the finalists around until DeChambeau finished Bard off on the afternoon’s 12th hole, which is usually the third hole. It’s also the green most distant from the clubhouse on the North Course. ... Next year’s U.S. Amateur, where DeChambeau is expected to defend his title, is at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomington Hills, Mich. Before that, DeChambeau will play in the Masters Tournament, U.S. Open and British Open.

– Tim Cronin