17 June 2024 , 09:01
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Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open title in dramatic style on Sunday night, beating Rory McIlroy in an all-time classic - and one of the first people to congratulate him was his old rival Brooks Koepka.
Having gone into championship Sunday with a lead of three shots, DeChambeau started poorly and allowed four-time major champ McIlroy to close the gap. Before long, he'd surrendered the lead and a bogey on the 12th - while McIlroy made a birdie on 13 - saw him go two shots behind the new leader.
Despite going behind, DeChambeau kept playing sensible golf and continued making par, before hitting the shot of his life on 18 to save par from an almost-impossible situation after a bad tee shot. Having watched McIlroy bogey from three feet, DeChambeau calmly rolled in his par putt to win the U.S. Open for the second time, making the LIV Golf man a two-time major champion.
In the midst of the celebrations, one man who was quick to send a congratulatory message was DeChambeau's old rival Koepka. The fellow LIV Golf star wrote on Twitter : "Welcome to the club 2x US Open champ," tagging DeChambeau in a reference to the fact they've both won the tournament twice.
The two have a storied history and at one point held a bitter rivalry, stemming back to 2019, when they were both on the PGA Tour. It all started with Koepka complaining about DeChambeau's slow play, but the feud turned petty soon after with the two trading thinly-veiled barbs at each another on social media and in the press.
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They have since squashed their beef, and even posed for a friendly photo together while playing a practice round last year. DeChambeau and Koepka will face off on the LIV Golf league, but will have to wait for The Open Championship before they get the chance to compete for a major championship again.
Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka haven't always had the best relationship (Getty Images)But DeChambeau believes his beaten opponent, McIlroy, will have more desire than ever to put up a fight at Royal Troon after coming so close to breaking his major drought on Sunday. Speaking at his post-round press conference, DeChambeau said: "I'm sure it will fuel Rory's fire even more. He's a strong-minded individual.
"For me, it was knowing how good my game is, how great of a place it's in, and just continuing to execute knowing the statistics would eventually fall my way. Still hope. Golf, it's a game of luck. There's a lot of luck that has to happen and go your way out there. I knew if I could give my 100% effort on every single shot, I'd give myself a good chance this week, just like I did at the PGA, just like I did at the Masters.
"Rory is going to [win another major]. I'd love to have a lot more battles with him. It would be a lot of fun. But, yeah, Rory's going to do it at some point."