Bryson DeChambeau ‘shocked’ by PGA Championship performance

“I said today it was closing time – but it will be closing time, hopefully over the next couple majors.”

Bryson DeChambeau came so close at the PGA Championship but knows after his epic late charge at Valhalla that he is ready to win again on golf’s biggest stages.

Starting Sunday’s final round two shots behind the lead, the captivating Californian was roared on by the Kentucky crowd as he surged within touching distance of the Wanamaker Trophy.

But DeChambeau’s playoff dream was crushed in a nerve-shredding finale by the imperious Xander Schauffele, who matched his birdie on the par-5 18th to win his maiden major by one shot.

“Definitely disappointing, but one that gives me a lot of momentum for the rest of the majors,” DeChambeau said afterwards, still reeling from his near-miss after signing for a sublime 64.

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“I shocked myself a couple times. Putted fantastic. I don’t feel like I missed one big-moment putt out there.

“There’s obviously a couple misses, but every time I needed to get up-and-down I got up-and-down, and every time I needed to make a 6-7-footer. I did.

“So definitely surprised myself, impressed myself and I know I can do it again, it’s just going to take some time. Got to figure some stuff out.”

In a three-horse sprint to the finish that also involved his resurgent playing partner Viktor Hovland, DeChambeau was defeated only by Schauffele’s -21 total, the record low score in men’s major history.

However, the LIV golfer, clearly the crowd favourite in Louisville, almost ended his own challenge on the 16th with a wayward drive that clattered the trees and somehow rebounded back into the centre of the fairway.

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DeChambeau made the most unlikely three after an outrageous slice of luck on that tricky par-4 and at one stage looked likely to claim at least a playoff place after sinking his birdie putt on 18.

But Schauffele crucially rescued a par after finding bunker off the tee on his penultimate hole and then played the 18th superbly.

The 30-year-old negotiated an uneven lie beside a bunker on his approach before chipping to seven-feet and draining his putt under the most intense pressure to win the tournament.

DeChambeau, who watched all this drama unfold on the driving range, was gracious in defeat after admitting he was far from comfortable with his own game all week.

“I gave it my all,” he said. “I put as much effort as I possibly could into it and I knew that my B game would be enough.

“It’s just clearly somebody played incredibly well. Xander’s well deserving of a major championship and, yeah, emptying the tank, I certainly love to do that and give the fans everything I can.”

He added: “Sometimes I just go look myself in the face and just say, you got to get it done.

“No matter what’s going on, no matter what you feel right now, you got to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots. Be better. I got to do better. And I did, I just was one shot short.”

Asked how he now embraces being a showman out on the course, DeChambeau credited his burgeoning online presence.

“It’s actually funny, YouTube has helped me understand that a little bit more,” he said. “When the moment comes, knowing what to do, what to say, how to act is really important. You know, when I was younger I didn’t understand what it was.

“Yeah, I would have great celebrations and whatnot, but I didn’t know what it meant and what I was doing it necessarily for.

“Now I’m doing it a lot more for the fans and for the people around and trying to be a bit of an entertainer that plays good golf every once in a while.”

DeChambeau certainly ticked both those boxes in a PGA Championship for the ages.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.