‘Can’t argue with it’: Image proves awkward golf truth as ‘gladiator’ completes redemption

In 2020, a beefed up DeChambeau strode up the 72nd hole to virtual silence, with most of those watching on only doing so in an official capacity.

The empty scene was revisited during the broadcast on Monday, and likened to “8.30am on the sixth hole of a regular tour event with 10 people there.”

Covid regulations meant fans weren’t allowed to attend the major — but the bare galleries, and lack of fanfare, was befitting for a winner who had few fans at the time anyway.

DeChambeau was a widely disliked figure for his outward displays of machismo, and an apparent lack of humility.

But if DeChambeau felt cheated for not getting the full major-winning experience four years ago, what unfolded at Pinehurst on Monday (AEST) has surely made up for it.

The Californian — a little older, a little wiser and humbled by recent life experiences — had the golfing world eating out the palm of his hand.

“I’m just blown away at the wild scene,” golf pro Paige Mackenzie said while witnessing the celebrations on NBC’s Golf Channel. “I’m blown away by the level of commitment these fans have for Bryson.”

Over 72 brutal holes, filled with all the hefty bumps and bruises that the US Open is known for, DeChambeau landed the final knockout shot with an otherworldly, 54-yard up-and-down from the bunker.

He called it the “best shot of his life” — and even that, somehow, feels like selling the clutch play short.

In reliving the drama of DeChambeau’s final day duel with Rory McIlroy, Mackenzie said there was something “gladiatorial” in the way DeChambeau played, and the way he stoked passions within the crowd, riding the energy to the thrilling end.

An iconic line from Ridley Scott’s 2000 epic Gladiator goes “win the crowd, and you’ll win your freedom”.

While DeChambeau’s battle with McIlroy and Pinehurst No.2 was hardly life and death, the line feels somewhat fitting for the superstar, once heavily-maligned and now arguably the biggest star in world golf who plays a freewheeling brand.

DeChambeau in 2020 might’ve climbed to the top of the pile with his bulked-up figure and equally hefty drives, but the weight on his shoulders was immense.

Across the two years that followed, DeChambeau struggled with injury, the media, and — most of all — with golf fans.

Cocky comments in the media, such as calling Augusta National a Par-67, regularly went down like lead balloons online, while people were turned off by a sense of bravado that was yet to regularly marry with results.

Ultimately, fans’ fears of DeChambeau ruling world golf with his monster drives proved to be unfounded as he fell down golf’s pecking order as quickly as he climbed it.

A dip in results in 2021 led to free fall in 2022, before the slide culminated in a hand injury that required surgery after that year’s Masters.

The lengthy recovery period that followed would be singled out by DeChambeau on Monday as the lowest point of his career, as he questioned whether or not he would be able to ever hold the club properly again.

Soon after, LIV Golf approached with a massive figure, reported to be worth about $125 million USD, and DeChambeau couldn’t say no.

The sight of DeChambeau playing career-worst golf while also making more money than he ever had did nothing to win over fans.

While DeChambeau had now secured his financial future, everything else remained up in the air, from his mental and physical health to his public standing.

DeChambeau completed LIV Golf’s inaugural season in virtual anonymity, failing to finish inside the top-10 in any 48-man event.

Professional pain combined with personal at the end of the year when his father, Jon, died after a long battle with diabetes.

The true turning point for DeChambeau was yet to come — he credits a moment in mid-2023 when his driver clicked back into gear, and he shot a 58 at the Greenbrier.

But Jon’s words to DeChambeau stuck, and laid the platform for his stunning redemption that took him back to winning the US Open on Father’s Day, no less.

“He made me the person I am, and even when times got tough a couple years ago he just kept telling me ‘just keep swimming, just keep going. You’re going to find your way, people will realise you’re just a human and you’re going to be fine. No matter what happens in the game of golf, just keep doing your best,’” DeChambeau said.

“That’s what stuck with me out there all day long today.”

At this point of DeChambeau’s winning speech, it would’ve been hard for even his biggest haters — if there were any left — to not feel a pluck of the heartstrings.

In victory, his thoughts were with his fans, with his father — even with McIlroy who missed two short putts in the closing three holes to lose by one shot.

DeChambeau said he wouldn’t “wish that on anybody” and, unless he acts as well as Brad Pitt, there was a sincerity to the message.

He remained humble, while no one could claim that his playing up for the fans was something he only indulged in because the going was good.

Mid-round, with McIlroy looking the likely victor, DeChambeau was still stopping to interact with fans, including signing a hat and enthusiastically shaking hands with a disabled spectator as he walked to the tee box.

By comparison, McIlroy watched DeChambeau’s winning putt go in and hightailed it to his tournament-sponsored Lexus.

Some reported that his jet was in the air, heading home for Florida, before DeChambeau could even finish his winner’s press conference.

Whether that’s true or not is uncertain, but what’s clear is that McIlroy did not stick around for any congratulatory messages and headed for home as quick as possible.

Such actions only serve to boost further the new-found popularity of DeChambeau, who began to swing the tide of a crowd normally weighted heavily in McIlroy’s favour.

DeChambeau doesn’t shy away from that fact that popularity matters to him, not just winning major tournaments with the couldn’t-care-less approach of a Brooks Koepka, or the laser-focus of Xander Schauffele.

Today, he puts time and energy into his social media content and curating his online image, not just 3D-printing irons or searching for other golfing innovations.

But it’s not just about popularity for popularity’s sake. He says it’s about self-improvement, and learning the importance of respect. The rest is just a by-product.

“I’ve realised that there’s a lot more to life than just golf. Treating others, yourself first and foremost, respecting yourself, is super important to being able to treat others with respect as well. That’s one of the big things that I’ve learned,” he said.

“I’m not perfect; I’m human. Everyone’s human. Certainly those low moments have helped establish a new mind frame of who I am, what’s expected, what I can do and what I want to do in my life.”

DeChambeau is now the winner of multiple majors, and will be tipped to contend once again at next month’s Open Championship.

Until then, golf fans will see little of him as he retreats to the LIV Golf circuit, which is yet to make any meaningful progress in uniting with the PGA Tour.

And yet, despite playing in the shadows most weeks, the drama and the fanfare of the US Open has revealed a new truth about men’s golf.

While Scheffler is still the best player in the world, he’s far from being its biggest star, which is now DeChambeau.

“I don’t know how you could argue with that,” Mackenzie said. “The dramatics in which he played, the flourish in which he plays, I don’t think it’s equal with anybody in professional golf right now.”

Paul McGinley added: “You can’t get a more opposite figure than Scottie, but this is what the game needs, whether we like it or not.”