DeChambeau wins US Open to capture first major victory

Mamaroneck: Bryson DeChambeau captured his first major Golf title on Sunday, firing a three-under-par 67 to win the 120th US Open and humble a relentless Winged Foot layout.

The 27-year-old American, who bulked up during the coronavirus lockdown in a bid to add power to his game, eagled the par-5 ninth from just inside 40 feet and rolled to a six-stroke victory over 21-year-old countryman Matthew Wolff.

“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe it,” said DeChambeau, renowned for his scientific approach to the sport. “It has been a lot of hard work.”

DeChambeau hit only 23 fairways for the week but finished 72 holes on six-under par 274 thanks to Sunday’s only sub-par round at the formidable Mamaroneck, New York, layout.

DeChambeau became the first player since 1955 to win with the only sub-par score in the final round, and just the fourth ever to do it, completing a dominating performance.

DeChambeau’s 325 yards off the tee was a driving distance record by a US Open champion, defying convention by attacking without fear, taking swing speed length to outweigh drawbacks of finding the rough.

South African Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open winner, was a distant third on 282, one stroke ahead of American Harris English after both fired 73 Sunday.

Wolff led last-duo partner DeChambeau by two strokes when the day began but, in his US Open debut, failed to become the youngest US Open winner since Bobby Jones in 1923 and youngest major winner since Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters.

Hall claims Portland Classic : England’s Georgia Hall won the Portland Classic with a par at the second playoff hole, denying South African Ashleigh Buhai a first US LPGA title.

Both players found the fairway at the second playoff hole, the par-four first that was the second-toughest on the Columbia Edgewater course on the day.

Both saw their approach shots land in the rough behind the green and had to pitch on. Hall made her five-foot par putt to pile the pressure on Buhai, who missed her short-range effort.

England’s Hall, who added a second victory to the British Women’s Open title she claimed in 2018, had a one-stroke lead going into the 72nd hole, but bogeyed the last to fall into the playoff.

Buhai, a three-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, had stormed home, making four of her eight birdies in the last five holes in a seven-under-par 65.

That included a birdie at the 72nd hole to cap a seven-under par 65 that saw her in the clubhouse on 12-under 204.

Agence France-Presse