MAMARONECK, New York — Bryson DeChambeau has won the U.S. Open — the first major championship for golf’s long-hitting mad scientist.
He is the third person in history to win an NCAA title, a U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open. The others: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
DeChambeau was the only player under par in the final round, laughing off Winged Foot’s narrow fairways and thick rough with his booming drives that averaged 325 yards. He shot 67 on Sunday to finish at 6 under — just the third person to in six U.S. Opens at Winged Foot -- a total of 750 players —to shoot below par.
Twenty-one-year-old Matthew Wolff was trying to become the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in 1923, and the youngest to win any major since Woods won his first Masters at 21 in 1997. He led DeChambeau by two strokes entering the final round.
But DeChambeau pulled away on the back nine. Both golfers eagled the ninth hole, but Wolff bogeyed No. 10 and DeChambeau birdied the 11th to take a three-stroke lead.
Wolff shot 75 to finish second, six strokes back. Louis Oosthuizen was third with a final-round 73.
