OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Bryson DeChambeau was the only player beating balls in the rain on the driving range as sundown approached Friday at Oakmont.
Those were the last shots he’ll hit at this year’s U.S. Open.
DeChambeau became the first defending champion to miss the cut at the national championship since Gary Woodland in 2020 — his round wrecked by errant drives, knucklers out of the rough and putts that would not drop.
DeChambeau shot 7-over 77 to finish the two days at 10 over — three shots off the cutline.
Where his signature shot last year at Pinehurst was that that set up the win on the 18th hole Sunday, the moment that told the story this year was the wild lash he took into the rough — also on No. 18 — then the TV cameras picking him up saying “What was that?” as he regained his balance and headed toward the green.
He saved par there and looked in line to make the cut with nine holes to go. It was a stretch of double bogey (bad drive), bogey (missed 6 footer), bogey (missed 7 footer) on 5, 6 and 7 that did in DeChambeau.
And so, the fan favorite who also tamed Winged Foot for a title in 2020, and who has starred in four of the last five majors — winning last year’s U.S. Open, paying with Rory McIlroy at the Masters and finishing second to Scottie Scheffler at this year’s PGA and Xander Schauffele the year before — won’t have a role on the weekend at Oakmont.
Schauffele made the cut to extend his streak to 66 tournaments, the most since Tiger Woods made 142 straight, ending in 2005. Schauffele hasn’t missed a cut at the majors since the Masters in 2022 — that’s 14 straight.
Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 champion, made one of only five birdies on the uphill, par-4 ninth hole to make the cut on the number.
Some other former champions didn’t fare as well. Among them are Dustin Johnson (10 over), the winner at Oakmont in 2016, Woodland (10 over), Lucas Glover (8 over) and Wyndham Clark, whose 25-footer for par just missed and left him one off the cut line.
Also missing was Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, who teed off into a ditch on 18, had to take a penalty shot and finished with a double bogey to move to 8 over.
And Phil Mickelson’s days at the U.S. Open could be coming to an end. Playing in the last Open from his five-year exemption from his PGA win in 2021, Mickelson teed off into the greenside rough on 17 and needed five shots to get down. His double bogey left him at 8 over.
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