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Bryson DeChambeau was in a position to repeat as US Open champion.
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Instead, DeChambeau faltered on the back nine, playing his final eight holes at 8-over par.
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DeChambeau carded a quadruple-bogey on the 71st hole that cost him ~$200,000 in winnings.
Bryson DeChambeau fell apart down the homestretch of the US Open on Sunday, and his collapse cost him not only the trophy but also roughly $200,000 in potential earnings.
As the reigning US Open champion, DeChambeau was in a good position to repeat after he played his first nine holes on Sunday.
With two birdies on the front nine and several other contenders faltering around him, DeChambeau sprung into a share of the lead at Torrey Pines.
But DeChambeau’s fortunes would drastically turn on the back nine, where two bogeys and a double-bogey on Nos. 11-13 would push him out of contention just as quickly as he had jumped into the lead.
Unfortunately for him, he had not yet suffered through the worst of his day.
After pars at Nos. 14-16, DeChambeau reached the par 4 No. 17 at 1-under for the tournament. Out of contention, but well within the hunt for a top 10 finish that would come with a sizeable payday.
But at the 17th, DeChambeau imploded, posting a quadruple-bogey 8 on the hole to bring him four strokes down the leaderboard.
DeChambeau’s 17th was a calamity of errors that included a drive out of bounds off the tee and one of the worst chips you’ll ever see from a professional golfer.
After that horrid shot across the green, DeChambeau would miss again with his next shot before finally getting on and two-putting his way to a quad.
With the 8, DeChambeau dropped from a tie for seventh in the standings down to T26.
After a pedestrian par on the 18th, DeChambeau finished his US Open campaign holding that T26 position, ultimately earning him $87,941.
It’s a fine payday, but if he had he parred the 17th, he would have jumped into a tie for seventh, where players took home a whopping $306,893 for their four days of work. While that number would have dropped slightly due to another player splitting the share, DeChambeau still missed out on roughly $200,000 thanks to one lousy hole of golf.
Further, had DeChambeau been able to avoid the breakdown he had just after the turn, he could have won the tournament or, at the very least, finished in the top three, where he would have taken home around $800,000.
After his round, DeChambeau said the collapse was just part of the game.
“I didn’t get off the rails at all. It’s golf,” DeChambeau said. “People will say I did this or did that, and it’s just golf. I’ve had plenty of times where I hit it way worse than today, and I won. It’s just one of those things where I didn’t have the right breaks happen at the right time.”
For DeChambeau, the money isn’t much of an issue. He’s already earned nearly $6 million in 14 events this season, and that’s before sponsorship money or his previous earnings are brought into the equation.
DeChambeau was hunting for a major, and when he fell out of contention, it’s understandable that he might be disinterested in the final holes of a tournament he thought he was about to claim.
Still, missing out on $200,000 in the span of maybe the worst 15 minutes of your professional career has to hurt, even if it doesn’t hurt your checkbook.
Read the original article on Insider