DeChambeau wins 2nd US Open title

PINEHURST – Bryson DeChambeau, needing to get up and down from a bunker at 18 to win, delivered one of his greatest shots Sunday and sank a tension-packed putt to win the US Open.

DeChambeau, having already escaped disaster once at Pinehurst’s final hole, blasted a 55-yard bunker shot to four feet and rolled in the clutch putt to capture his second US Open crown.

“That bunker shot was the shot of my life,” DeChambeau said. “I’m so happy I got that shot up-and-down on 18. It’s a dream come true.”

Playing partner Matthieu Pavon, a Frenchman who finished fifth, was even more impressed as he watched DeChambeau’s shot hold firm on a lightning-fast sloped green that had sent balls rolling away from the hole all week.

“He just played like unbelievable,” Pavon said. “At that time with the pressure he had at that moment, it is just one of the best shots in golf history.”

DeChambeau, runner-up at last month’s PGA Championship by a stroke, didn’t want to be denied again.

“Oh, man, I didn’t want to finish second again. PGA really stung,” he said. “I wanted to get this one done.”

DeChambeau, who also won the 2020 US Open, had everything on the line after Rory McIlroy squandered a two-stroke lead with three bogeys in the last four holes, the last on a four-foot par putt miss at 18.