Bryson DeChambeau–The Muscle Man, The Mad Scientist, and The Bomber which are names his PGA Tour peers have given him due to his innovation in the game of golf–shot a three-under par 67 today for a 7-under par total 203 after three rounds in the U.S. Open at famed Pinehurst No. 2 at the Pinehurst Golf Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Bryson’s nearest pursuers, who are tied for second at 4-under par total 206, are Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, and Matthieu Pavon. DeChambeau will be vying tomorrow to add a second U.S. Open title to his one major win at Winged Foot in 2020.
It was a day of frustration for many a pro at Pinehurst No. 2 today mostly because of the design of many of the greens along with their fast surfaces. Famed golf course architect Donald Ross designed many of them elevated and shaped like an upside down bowl resulting many so-called “false fronts.” Seemingly well played iron shots to these greens can result in balls easily rolling off them and down adjacent slopes. Players must then choose between various different options for their next shot, which is often with a putter or hitting a low-lofted chip-and-run. It’s not the kind of golf PGA Tour players are used to. The result can be like playing hockey back-and-forth across the green.
For example, on the relatively short par four 13th hole today, leaders Ludvig Aberg and Tony Finau made a triple bogey seven while watching their ball roll across the green, off the green, and downhill multiple times. Finau’s episode was most disheartening. He drove in the fairway and landed his wedge shot in the middle of the front portion of the green, perhaps twenty feet onto the green. It appeared that the ball had stopped. But instead, its backspin caused it to gradually roll backwards, gain speed, roll off the green and several yards downhill before stopping. Finau then putted the ball up onto the green, but again the ball came “right back atcha.” His next shot rolled onto the green and over it, settling behind the green. It was enough to make a grown man cry!
Or take DeChambeau. He had answers for these mysterious Ross carpets nearly all day. But when he came to the long par-four 16th hole with a four stroke lead, he hit his iron shot in what appeared to be a safe play on the green. But not so–the ball rolled back, off the green, and many yards downhill to result in the double bogey six for The Mad Scientist. Fortunately, Bryson birdied the par three 17th hole with its pin tucked behind a sand bunker that was so menacing that it would make any scientist mad.
These leaders in the U.S. Open are some of the best pro golfers in the world. So, it may be an exciting round tomorrow unless the Mad Scientist mixes up more potion that makes him fly ahead even farther and thus leave his pursuers behind his pixie dust. i
(Bryson DeChambeau is a professing Christian who attended college at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. See also “Bryson De Chambeau Is Bulking Up to Become ‘Massive.’“)
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