DeChambeau birdie gives him playoff win over An and Stanley at Memorial

Bryson DeChambeau holed an 11-foot birdie on the second extra hole, the same green where he missed a putt to win in regulation, to capture the Memorial Tournament over Byeong Hun An and Kyle Stanley.

The Mad Scientist of the PGA Tour is now the Memorial Tournament champion.

Bryson DeChambeau prevailed in a three-way playoff Sunday over Byeong Hun An and Kyle Stanley to earn his second career PGA win. After a posting a one-under round of 71 and 15-under for the tournament, he made an 11-foot birdie to defeat An on the second extra hole.

DeChambeau came into the final round holding a stroke lead over three players. He played steady early, with one birdie and good par saves from off the green at nine and 10. But other players got off to quick starts, and DeChambeau found himself looking up the leaderboard.

It was at the 12th that he regained possession of the lead. His approach shot to the par-three settled less than 10 feet away, and he converted the birdie to get to 17-under. A costly bogey at 14 meant that he was tied with Stanley going to 18.

Stanley showed he has the potential to bounce back from adversity. His tee shot at the 12th found the water and led to a double bogey. He rebounded to birdie four holes in a row beginning at 14, including a 30-footer at the 17th to tie DeChambeau.

Stanley and DeChambeau came to the 18th tied at 16-under, a stroke ahead of An. An had hit a great approach at the 17th to two feet and made birdie. With a par on the 18th, he posted the clubhouse lead at 15-under.

The leaders now just had to par the last. But the pressure of trying to win on the PGA Tour got to both men. Stanley hit his tee shot into the left rough and had to lay up, missing a 15-foot par putt. DeChambeau’s mistake came on his second shot, which missed the green to the right. He still had a 10-foot putt for par to earn the victory, but it slid past the hole.

DeChambeau’s miss sent all three back to the 18th for a sudden-death playoff. His mindset after missing the opportunity in regulation was he was still in the tournament with a chance to win.

“I had to say to myself I still have a chance. It’s not easy going into a playoff,” he said after the playoff. “I was fortunate to go second off, and seeing [An] hit it a little right into the rough up there, it kind of gave me confidence to say, hey, if you hit the fairway here you have a huge advantage here. And so that’s what I did for those two times.”

Stanley again found thick rough off the tee and was still short of the green after three shots. His chip shot to save par came tantalizingly close but hit the flagstick and stayed out.

DeChambeau and An both hit their second shots in the rough over the green. DeChambeau pitched close to the pin to set up an easy par. An, however, narrowly missed his chip for birdie to win the tournament. Par putts sent both men back to 18 tee and Stanley to the clubhouse.

The tournament was now between the two former U.S. Amateur champions. An was looking for his first win on the PGA Tour, DeChambeau his second. An again hit his approach long into the rough. But DeChambeau learned from his two prior mistakes. His shot settled 11 feet away to set up a birdie. An hit a great flop shot, setting the stage for DeChambeau to win.

This time he wouldn’t miss, earning the coveted handshake with Jack Nicklaus behind the green. As he watched the putt drop DeChambeau gave an enthusiastic reaction which showed just how much this win meant to him.

“That was a big celebration there. John Deere was pretty big, but this was a little bigger for sure. Just being able to make that 11-footer, going yes, I can do this. I can come in clutch when I’m not playing well to be able to finish the job off,” he said.

The 24-year-old Clovis, California native is a cerebral player, always looking for an edge no matter how strange it may seem. With his clubs all the same length and Ben Hogan cap, his unorthodox methods have bought him attention. With that attention has come criticism as well. But DeChambeau doesn’t let the critics get to him. He believes all the tinkering he does only allows him to feel more comfortable on the course.

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“People always kind of scrutinze me, saying i’m too technical or what not. It’s all just to aid my feel,” he said. “You know, I’m a guy that goes off of feel still, to everybody’s surprise probably. But it’s just an aid, and it helps me to be more comfortable in difficult situations. The tougher the situation gets, the more I can rely on the numbers to be able to bring myself back down and be comfortable.”

His attempt to cure his putting woes are one example of how he uses science and technology to advance his game. DeChambeau’s putting got so bad in 2016 he started using a side-saddle stroke. Then he found a company out of Winter Garden, Florida, Sik Golf, that helped him find his rhythm on the greens.

Sik Golf worked with DeChambeau to develop the proper launch angle for his putts. With this adjustment has come the results to prove it works. He won his first tournament last July at the John Deere Classic, and was superb on the greens again this week.

“I’ve struggled with my putting my whole life. It’s without enough thanks to the guys at Sik Golf for being able to figure out what the proper launch is on the putter for me,” he said. “To realize what it needs to be … Just being able to verify that every week has allowed me to be more comfortable with how the ball is coming off the face. And then obviously seeing putts go in is huge. I was able to do it early this week and just kept the trend going.”

One player who did not have good touch on the greens this week was Tiger Woods. Woods was briefly in contention, but a two-over back-nine saw him drop to a tie for 23rd. Afterwards he could point to one area of his game that cost him: his putting.

“If I just putt normally, I probably would be right there with those guys and up there in the last couple of groups,” he said. ““I just need to hit better putts. This week I didn’t feel comfortable with my lines and my feel was a little bit off. Consequently I missed a bunch of putts.”

Woods was first in proximity to the hole, strokes gained tee-to-green and approach-to-green this week, but 72nd in strokes gained putting.

Patrick Cantlay got to 17-under with four birdies on his first nine, but a three-over back-nine saw him finish a shot out of the playoff. Joaquin Niemann came up short of the victory in sixth, but it was his third top-10 in five professional starts. The finish gives the 19-year-old Chilean temporary membership on the PGA for the rest of the season.

The Memorial was the last chance for many players to fine-tune their games for the start of the U.S. Open on June 14. Woods, in particular, is encouraged by his ball striking and believes the state of his game will serve him well at Shinnecock Hills in two weeks.

“I hit it really good this week, so that’s a positive going into Shinnecock, where ball striking is going to be a must. It will be a very different golf course, but overall if I hit the ball like this, I’ll be pleased in two weeks,” he said.

He just needs to make putts. DeChambeau found his putting fix. Now Woods just has to find his if he is to contend.