The American sealed his victory on the last hole at Pinehurst and the Northern Irishman collapsed from the 15th, extending his drought
MADRID, 17 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The American golfer Bryson DeChambeau won the US Open this Sunday for the second time in his career by winning the Pinehurst Resort & CC course, in North Carolina, with one stroke ahead of the Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, who had it in his power to cut a ten-year drought without winning a major.
DeChambeau began the last day of the third Grand Slam of the season with a lead at the top of the table by three strokes, but McIlroy turned the score around with a tremendous success with the putt. The number three in the world began to work on the greens after a bogey on the fifth hole and signed four birdies to take the lead for the first time after the 13th hole, two strokes ahead of the American.
However, the champion of four ‘majors’, the last in 2014, counted his last four holes for errors and, although DeChambeau also accused the pressure, the American was better to, at 30 years old, achieve the second ‘Grand Slam’ of his career. One of the figures of the Saudi LIV Golf circuit, DeChambeau won his country’s second Open after 2020, in what at times seemed like a USA versus Europe battle like in the Ryder Cup.
The one from Modesto (California) was the one who best resisted a Pinehurst that left the champion’s score at -6. The American failed resoundingly at 15, where his rival had also made a bogey, but even worse was the putt that McIlroy missed at 16. Then, the Northern Irishman went to the bunker at 17 and, most painfully, he made a bogey on the 18th with a putt of less than a meter with an unexpected fall.
Behind, DeChambeau needed par on the last hole to secure the victory and, although he also failed at the start, went into the fescue and then landed in the bunker, the American secured a dramatic victory to get even for his attempt failed a month ago in the PGA Championship. For McIlroy it was the fourth time he has finished second since he won his last major ten years ago.
Tied third, with -4, finished the Americans Tony Finau and Patrick Cantlay, who held on in the fight for the title until a ‘bogey’ on the 16th, while the Frenchman Matthieu Pavon was fifth alone. Regarding the Spanish representation, Sergio García finished his most regular ‘Grand Slam’ tournament since he won the Masters in 2017.
The man from Borriol scored 70 shots this Sunday, par for the field, and with a total of plus one he finished in twelfth position. In addition, David Puig, who by making the cut in Pinehurst achieved his qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, was 55th.